Police on Wednesday morning arrested a member of the Candlelight Party in Battambang province, but would not tell reporters what the man was being charged with.
Party activist Ley Sokhon had been actively searching for fraud related to last weekend’s commune election, according to Candlelight provincial head Dim Saroeun.
Saroeun told VOD that Sokhon is now being held at the provincial police station. He believed that another activist is wanted by the police but is on the run.
“The family told us that [Sokhon] was arrested for entering someone’s place without permission,” Saroeun said.
Sokhon had recorded a video of a confrontation with CPP officials and a local resident that appears to show the cause for his arrest. In the video, which he posted to Facebook, Sokhon approaches a group of apparent CPP officials in the village as they carry documents to verify villagers’ names.
Sokhon asked the officials what they’re doing with a list from the National Election Committee, and one of them responded that they wanted to check how many people had voted. Sokhon demanded to know why they’re doing that, asking if they were still gathering people to vote.
“Do you know that gathering people is illegal? Do you understand, this is a red-handed crime,” he said in the video. “Why do you come to commit [a crime] like this? Why do you act like this? When you do good things, people will go to vote for you. When you do things like this, people don’t vote for you — and now you come to pressure people.”
Sokhon then followed the officials to a home, where a woman shouted at him from the open front gate, demanding proof of his claims against the officials. Behind the woman, a man was visible holding a bundle of money.
Sokhon then walked past the front gate to talk to the man, who said the money was from selling, denying that the officials had just given it to him as a bribe.
Lin Lida, Sokhon’s wife, said it was this man who filed the complaint against her husband.
“He was angry that he would post the video [on Facebook] and asked to remove the post, but [Sokhon] did not,” she said.
Battambang provincial police chief Sat Kimsan said the arrest was ordered by the prosecutor, which is handling the case. When asked on what charge his officers had arrested Sokhon, the chief said to ask the prosecutor.
Duong Saron, the prosecutor’s spokesperson, said the office is working on the case, but provided no further information.
