REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PHNOM PENH -- Thai yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid, sentenced to eight years in jail by a Cambodian court on espionage charges in 2010, flew home on Wednesday after Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni granted him a royal pardon.

The pardon came during a two-day visit by acting Thai foreign minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

Somkwamkid left Phnom Penh with Sihasak for Bangkok via a passenger plane on Wednesday morning without giving an interview to a throng of journalists at Phnom Penh International Airport.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen asked the King to grant a pardon to Somkwamkid following a request by Thai army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, head of the National Council for Peace and Order, according to Eang Sophalleth, personal spokesman for Hun Sen.

Somkwamkid was arrested by Cambodian authorities in December, 2010, along with six other Thais including a former Democrat Party Member of Parliament Panich Vikitsreth, after they illegally entered Cambodian territory to observe border demarcation process.

Five Thais in the group were freed just a month after the arrest, while Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon were convicted in February 2011 of unlawful entry into military base and espionage. They were sentenced to six years and eight years in prison, respectively.

In February last year, King Sihamoni granted a royal pardon to Ratree on the occasion of the cremation of late King Father Norodom Sihanouk.

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