In celebrating the 67th anniversary of Cambodia’s independence from France on Monday, civil society, analysts and government officials reflected on “national unity” — though their views were sharply divided on whether the CNRP should be included in such unity.
At least a dozen CNRP supporters were questioned in the Kampong Cham Provincial Court this week over incitement allegations, while three former party officials were handed suspended sentences over forestry crimes in Pursat province, according to lawyers.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, his wife and more than a dozen members of his staff tested negative for Covid-19, and he will quarantine at home for 14 days as a precaution, the premier said late Wednesday, after he met a Hungarian official a day prior who later tested positive for the virus in Thailand.
Top Cambodian officials are going into quarantine after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who visited the country on Tuesday and signed three agreements in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen, tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Thailand.
Over a dozen pages of court documents summoning former CNRP members, including several party leaders and ex-lawmakers, on charges of plotting and incitement were taped to an abandoned security guard booth at the banned party’s former headquarters in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
Jailed unionist Rong Chhunn had “intent to incite social disorder” by releasing statements containing fabrications about the Cambodia-Vietnam border demarcation, the government told the U.N.’s human rights office in response to questions about his arrest.
An opposition activist was jailed on incitement charges on Wednesday after she was forcibly carried away by authorities from a protest at the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh last week.
A Phnom Penh resident and CNRP member who was struck with a brick one week ago is still in a serious condition in hospital, while police say they have not found any leads to an incident caught on CCTV.
Prime Minister Hun Sen inaugurated the construction of a new bridge from the capital’s Koh Pich island to the under-construction Koh Norea satellite city by seemingly threatening the local family of former CNRP lawmaker Ho Vann, living in exile overseas.
After authorities on Friday forcibly moved about a dozen people protesting across the street from the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, and arrested three, demonstrators highlighted how police tactics used during a later rally at the U.S. Embassy were as different as “the sky and earth.”
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