Despite the fact that Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been living in exile outside the country since 2015, a social media claim said he and his wife were killed in a road crash in Thailand last year. The claim had been shared several times while some Facebook users expressed their comments and reaction to the claim. After our verification, however, we found the claim to be false.
Social Media Claim
A Facebook page claimed Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his wife were killed in a road crash in Thailand on August 19, 2021. The social media user also posted some pictures of the opposition leader and his wife with overlaid text ‘RIP’ – Rest in Peace – a condolence word expressed to someone’s death.
The claim had been shared several times by Khmer-speaking social media users; some of them commented and reacted to the claim as well.
Below is the capture of the claim that reads:
“Breaking News: Sam Rainsy and his wife passed away RIP.
On Thursday 19th August 2021, […] Sam Rainsy and his wife were traveling to Thailand to buy longan from Cambodian farmers in Battambang province. Then, they were killed in a road crash in Thailand. Source from Thailand …”
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began verifying the claim above by reviewing news saying about the tragedy of Sam Rainsy and his wife in a road crash in Thailand and the latest presence of the Cambodian opposition leader. Then, we find out the facts below.
Although he has been banned from political action in Cambodia, Sam Rainsy remains the main political figure and a strong political challenger for Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Thus, what happened to him will be a piece of viral news covered by local and international media.
However, by searching in Thailand’s leading media, we found no news related to Sam Rainsy had been published in August last year.
Below is a video depicting how we tried to find out the news related to the Cambodian opposition leader circulated by Bangkok Post in August last year.
We also tried to find out the same news in the web portal of the Nation – another leading newspaper in Thailand. Then, we found no news related to the Cambodian opposition leader at the time.
In a post on his personal Facebook page on August 19, 2021, the caption said Sam Rainsy had arrived in the United States, showing he and his wife had never traveled to Thailand at the time.
Please see the capture of the post on his official Facebook page Sam Rainsy read “Sam Rainsy arrived today in the U.S. / Sam Rainsy est arrivé aujourd’hui aux Etats-Unis.”
A prominent political figure Sam Rainsy, 73, has lived in exile outside Cambodia since 2015 after he was convicted with a charge of defaming senior leaders of the ruling party CPP.
However, his Facebook page often shows his presence in meetings with his supporters and international politicians.
A photo posted on his Facebook page last Saturday shows Sam Rainsy was with a group of international delegates at a conference of the Liberal International (LI) held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Sam Rainsy has been banned from political action in Cambodia since 2017 after he was convicted in another case of defaming CPP’s senior leaders including PM Hun Sen.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found out the claim mentioned above is false. Cambodia’s prominent opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his wife were never killed in a road crash in Thailand. He was on a trip to the United States in August last year. The latest post on his official Facebook page shows he met a group of international delegates from Liberal International in Sofia, Bulgaria last Saturday.
Title:A False Claim Says Riansy and Wife Killed in a Road Crash in Thailand
Fact Check By: Jay UdomResult: False
