Ratree set to be freed Friday

Ratree set to be freed Friday

Activist Ratree Pipattanapaiboon is set to be freed Friday after being incarcerated in a Cambodian prison for more than two years.

Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, in a photo taken recently in Phnom Penh. She has served a little more than two years of her sentence for what Prime Minister Hun Sen called espionage.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Manasvi Srisodapol said officials had contacted relatives of Ratree asking them to pick up the activist at Prey Sar prison near Phnom Penh.

A source familiar with the release plans said Ratree will be set free about 4pm.

Cambodia granted a royal pardon to Ratree to mark the occasion of the royal cremation of former king Norodom Sihanouk on Monday.

Last month, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen instructed his Justice Ministry to grant the pardon to Ratree and reduce the prison term for jailed Thai Patriots Network leader Veera Somkwamkid by six months.

Veera and Ratree, who served as the TPN's secretary, were arrested along with five other Thais, including Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth, on Dec 29, 2010 while "inspecting" a disputed border zone near Sa Kaeo's Ban Nonghchan area.

Veera was sentenced to eight years and Ratree to six years on charges of espionage and illegal entry.

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