Local security personnel try to snatch a banner of Cambodia National Rescue Party supporters in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Heng Sinith / AP
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Heng Sinith / AP
Local security personnel try to snatch a banner of Cambodia National Rescue Party supporters in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Heng Sinith / AP
A Cambodian court has convicted 19 political opposition leaders of trying to overthrow the government, following a case that a human rights group described as “bogus”.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday found members of now disbanded The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), and a relative of a member, committed the crime of instigating, attempting to incite military disobedience, and conspiring, AP’s report. Seven defendants, including former CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, who are currently living abroad have been tried absent. All face five to 10 years in prison.
The allegations received swift condemnation from Human Rights Watch, one of many advocacy groups that have long criticized Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s treatment of political opponents.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling party are using these bogus trials to close the door to any possible return of the exiled CNRP leaders, and to root out any roots.” any remaining roots of the opposition party in the country by imprisoning politicians and activists who dare to stay in Cambodia,” Phil Robertson, HRW’s deputy Asia director, told NPR.
“This is all about ensuring that the CNRP networks are completely crushed before the communal elections scheduled for June so that no political challenge can arise,” he said.
The prosecution accused the defendants of plotting to overthrow the current government run by Prime Minister Hun Sen, including using the pandemic to undermine the current regime’s credibility by disseminating false information. factual and provocative.
“This is a hoax. [They] use freedom of speech but this freedom of speech is hidden behind a trick,” deputy prosecutor Seng Heang said during the trial, according to VOD English.
The group is also accused of having a “secret network” and is blamed for the partial suspension of the European Union’s “Everything But Arms” trade deal with Cambodia, which was revoked in 2020. . on human and labor rights concerns.
“The justice system is once again used as a blunt political tool in an attempt to quell opposition to Hun Sen’s dictatorship. Opposing dictators is a duty, not a crime.” , Sam Rainsy, the exiled CNRP leader who has lived in France since 2005, wrote on Twitter in response to Thursday’s convictions.
His failed attempt will return to Cambodia in 2019 was also cited by the prosecution as an example of the opposition trying to rally the people to overthrow the government. Rainsy blamed Prime Minister Hun Sen for keeping him out of the country and was since vowed to try to return to another homeland.
This latest trial is just the first of several planned mass trials, following the Cambodian government 2020 prosecution of hundreds of activists and dissidents.
Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander, has been in office for more than three decades. Over the years, human rights groups have accused Hun Sen of suppressing, with increasing pressure, dissidents, the media and human rights organizations that he accused of trying to overthrow. overthrow his government.
In 2017, Cambodia saw the most severe government repression in nearly 20 years, said Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, told NPR. That year, one of Cambodia’s largest English-language newspapers was closed For allegedly owing taxes, the main opposition leader Kem Sokah was arrested and his opposition CNRP party dissolved. Experts say this is likely all in response to increasingly popular of the opposition movement.
In the next year’s national elections, Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won all 125 parliamentary seats. The next parliamentary election is scheduled for 2023.
“Cambodia’s politicized courts have facilitated Prime Minister Hun Sen’s effort to destroy the last vestiges of democratic liberties and civil and political rights,” said Robertson. country. in a separate statement released by HRW. “The governments involved should do all they can to reverse this attack on the Cambodian people.”
