{"id":7728,"date":"2021-01-14T00:16:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T00:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=149831"},"modified":"2021-01-14T00:16:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T00:16:58","slug":"drop-charges-against-cambodian-opposition-members-rights-groups-say-on-eve-of-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/14\/drop-charges-against-cambodian-opposition-members-rights-groups-say-on-eve-of-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Drop Charges Against Cambodian Opposition Members, Rights Groups Say on Eve of Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cambodia should immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against hundreds of officials and supporters of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), observers said on the eve of the first of two mass trials for alleged crimes of \u201cincitement\u201d and \u201cconspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement Wednesday, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said that as several of the defendants\u2014including APHR member and CNRP deputy president Mu Sochua\u2014are currently living in exile, authorities should allow for their safe return to Cambodia.<\/p>\n
Mu Sochua has said she will lead a group of CNRP brass and activists back to Cambodia to defend themselves against the charges, despite the government refusing to validate their passports or issue them visas.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter years of cementing the country as a one-party state, the unprecedented number of CNRP members and activists currently on trial shows how the ruling regime in Cambodia will stop at nothing until every last voice of political dissent is wiped out,\u201d said Kasit Piromya, APHR board member and former Thai foreign minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can it be a crime for merely associating (with) or supporting a political party? A multi-party political system is crucial in any democratic society to ensure proper oversight of the government, and Prime Minister Hun Sen\u2019s administration is clear that they will not tolerate anything of this sort.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court plans to proceed with a mass trial of at least 136 former lawmakers, members, or supporters of the CNRP for their alleged involvement in acting party president Sam Rainsy\u2019s plan to return to Cambodia from self-imposed exile on Nov. 9, 2019 to lead nonviolent protests against Hun Sen. The acting CNRP chief, who has lived in France since late 2015, was prevented from entering Cambodia through Thailand when he was refused permission to board a Thai Airways plane in Paris.<\/p>\n
If found guilty, the defendants\u2014who include several currently in detention\u2014face up to 12 years\u2019 imprisonment and a fine of 4 million Cambodian riels (U.S. $ 990). Apart from the mass trial, former lawmakers, members, and senior leaders of the CNRP are also facing other separate trials related to the same purported return attempt in\u00a0November 2019\u00a0with additional criminal charges such as \u201cinciting military personnel to disobedience\u201d and \u201cattack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that the authorities are not facilitating the appearance of all defendants in court only makes this case even more blatantly politically-motivated and a violation of their due process,\u201d Piromya said.<\/p>\n
\u201cExiled CNRP members who have been charged must be allowed to return safely and be given the opportunity to hear and defend their case in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
CNRP President Kem Sokha was arrested in September 2017 for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government, and two months later the Supreme Court banned the CNRP for its supposed role in the scheme.<\/p>\n
The move to dissolve the CNRP marked the beginning of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for his ruling Cambodian People\u2019s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in the country\u2019s July 2018 general election.<\/p>\n
Pandemic pretext<\/strong><\/p>\n Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said that Hun Sen is using the coronavirus pandemic as \u201ca golden opportunity\u201d to target the opposition while the international community\u2019s attention is diverted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government\u2019s goal is apparently to use the country\u2019s CPP-controlled, kangaroo courts to present the world with a fait accompli\u2014the effective end of Cambodian democracy and consolidation of Hun Sen\u2019s perpetual dictatorship\u2014by the time the world emerges from the shadow of COVID-19,\u201d he said, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.<\/p>\n \u201cAny pretense of a free and fair trial really went out the window the minute these mass proceedings were announced.\u201d<\/p>\n Robertson also slammed the Cambodian government for using travel restrictions because of the pandemic to prevent CNRP leaders from returning to the country, which he said effectively denied them their right to defend themselves in court.<\/p>\n \u201cForeign governments, U.N. agencies and donors need to finally speak up publicly and hold Hun Sen accountable for his crackdown on political opponents, the media and civil society\u00a0before further irreversible damage is done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hun Sen was also condemned by U.S. lawmakers Senator Edward J. Markey, lead Democrat on the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Congresswoman Lori Trahan, who said his crackdown \u201creveals disdain for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cConvening a kangaroo court to punish his critics for their opposition, along with his continued attacks on the press and civil-society, is a reflection of Hun Sen\u2019s growing weakness, not strength,\u201d the lawmakers from Massachusetts, home to a sizeable Cambodian \u00e9migr\u00e9 population, said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n