A former bodyguard of opposition leader Sam Rainsy was left bloodied by two unknown assailants on Sunday while two members of the dissolved opposition party were arrested the day before, the victim and a rights group said on Monday.
The dissolved opposition party has reorganized and raised funds in the U.S., a situation that amounts to U.S. support for a “terrorist movement,” government spokesman Phay Siphan said on Thursday, the morning after the new U.S. ambassador to Cambodia landed in Phnom Penh.
National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun on Tuesday ordered police chiefs from across the country to be ready to prevent any attempt by the political opposition to overthrow the government, and maintain security on the upcoming Pchum Ben Day, a police spokesman said.
Another six former members of the outlawed opposition were arrested this weekend — at least two for plotting and incitement to commit a felony — while Interior Minister Sar Kheng has allegedly ordered authorities to monitor CNRP supporters gathering at pagodas over the current Pchum Ben festival.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian governments to assist Cambodia in preventing Sam Rainsy from freely returning to the country, as the exiled opposition leader has vowed to do in November.
Cambodia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday responded to a video from the U.S. State Department, which called opposition leader Kem Sokha’s ongoing detention without trial “baseless,” by noting that Sokha had been released from prison to the “comfort of his home” a year ago.
Two NGOs have declined a second meeting with a government spokesman after already discussing their joint report on the country’s microfinance sector with him last week.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus called the continued detention without trial of former opposition leader Kem Sokha “baseless” in a video published on Facebook by the embassy in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
UPDATED 4:15 p.m. — The head of the government’s spokesperson unit on Monday said he would educate a civil society leader following the latter’s critical comments made to a news outlet about unequal wealth distribution in the country.
A former CNRP commune chief in Kampong Cham province was apprehended on Thursday, according to his wife, at least the fourth arrest of an ex-opposition party member this week.
VOD is an independent media outlet producing radio programs and disseminating information to the public via the Internet.
© 2019 VOD. All Rights Reserved.
