Cambodian Refugee Sok Yoeun to Finland

Press release 46/2004
26.2.2004

Cambodian refugee Sok Yoeun is expected to arrive to Finland on Friday, February 27.

Sok Yoeun who was jailed in Bangkok was given the status of refugee by the UNCHR in November 1999. Earlier in the same autumn he had fled from Cambodia to Thailand after Cambodia had charged him of participation in a rocket attack claimed to have been directed against Prime Minister Hun Sen. Sok Yoeun was a member of the opposition party in his homeland.

In Thailand Sok Yoeun was arrested on the basis of illegal entry and he was later taken to custody pending the juridical process on an extradition demand by Cambodia.

Finland declared its readiness to receive Sok Yoeun and his family in the spring 2000 within a UNCHR quota of refugees. Members of Sok Yoeun´s family were resettled in Finland in this connection.

The government of Finland appealed both to the Cambodian and Thai governments for Sok Yoeun´s release and permission to join his family in Finland on a humanitarian basis - referring to his age, ill health and reunification with his family.

Additional information: Johanna Suurpää, Director of Human Rights Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel +358 9 160 56551