Thai legal team to testify before ICJ in April

BANGKOK, January 8 (TNA) - A Thai legal team, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana, will testify before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a case related to the Preah Vihear Temple, filed by neighbouring Cambodia, in April 2013. Pongthep, who has been assigned by Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to oversee the Preah Vihear-related case, told journalists on Tuesday that he will lead the Thai legal team, the same one appointed by the previous Democrat Party-led government, to London early next month to meet with foreign legal advisers, as part of the Kingdom's preparations for the forthcoming verbal testimony before the World Court in April. The deputy premier acknowledged that the Thai legal team has been authorized by the incumbent Thai administration to independently fight the Preah Vihear Temple-related case on behalf of the Kingdom, based on its own discretion, at the Hague-based ICJ. According to the deputy premier, the Thai government is also ready to listen to suggestions from all parties concerning the case, asking for public understanding, however, that the government needs to carefully proceed with the case in order to prevent any negative impact on national interest. The ICJ is scheduled to hear final explanations from Thai and Cambodian legal teams on the case from April 15-19, 2013 and it will then take at least six months before it will give its final verdict on the case. The Cambodian government asked the ICJ in April 2011 to interpret its 1962 verdict on the ownership of the Preah Vihear Temple and an unsettled area surrounding the ancient Hindu temple, seeking the World Court's order for Thailand to withdraw troops from the contentious area around Preah Vihear Temple, after relations between the two neighbouring countries soured in the wake of Phnom Penh's bid to have the temple listed as a World Heritage site unilaterally. The ICJ ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear Temple was on the Cambodian soil, but its ruling was not clear about ownership of the surrounding 4.6 square kilometre area. Thai and Cambodian troops had clashed from time to time, as each side attempted to assert sovereignty over the disputed area. The Thai government has reiterated that Thailand will respect the ICJ’s final verdict on the case no matter what the outcome is. (TNA)