Brussels, 07/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, Graham Watson, Leader of the European Parliament's ALDE group, welcomed the dropping of charges against Sam Rainsy, a top Cambodian opposition activist and member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, who will now be able to return to his country after a year in exile, and the release of Cheam Channy, an opposition activist after serving one year of a seven-year sentence. Arguing for the release of all political prisoners in Cambodia, which has been sought one more time by the European Parliament in a resolution adopted in January (see EUROPE 9114), Liberals and Democrats emphasise that the timing of this gesture was of crucial importance preceding, as it does, an international donors' Conference set to take place in Phnom Penh on 2 March (the Cambodian government still depends on international donors for around 50% of its budget, points out the ALDE press release).