Opposition members on trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday complained of being arrested at gunpoint without explanation; a private call and messages used as evidence for inciting social insecurity; being threatened to attest to their testimony; and their supposed testimony containing words they did not say.
In a former political bastion of Kem Sokha, president of the outlawed opposition CNRP, silence prevails over political discussions — though some ex-supporters quietly betray continuing hope for the opposition’s promise of change.
Wives of two former CNRP councilors say their husbands, who were arrested and sent to court on Thursday following a mass trial hearing of officials and supporters of the outlawed opposition, had made sacrifices for the nation while alluding arrest.
Two opposition supporters on Thursday defended themselves in court against their alleged backing of Sam Rainsy’s call to rally troops around his attempted return to the country in 2019.
Exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy received another two convictions and a combined prison term of four years on Wednesday alongside other dissidents sentenced in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s ongoing series of incitement trials against CNRP members and outspoken individuals.
At least 12 activists and CNRP supporters have been arrested this week, according to National Police, in at least one case for incitement for “supporting the betrayal” of the outlawed opposition party’s continued activities.
Dozens of supporters gathered at former opposition leader Kem Sokha’s Phnom Penh house over the weekend as he continues to toe the line around his ban on political activities.
A general contractor in Texas who has never set foot in Cambodia is among more than a dozen foreign citizens called up to a mass trial of the banned main opposition party. Their experiences suggest Thai authorities supplied a Cambodian court with their names.
A private phone conversation in which two former opposition officials in Battambang province allegedly spoke of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s death was the focus of an incitement trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday.
A former opposition commune councilor who now works as a tuk-tuk driver says he was assaulted by four men on Saturday, while the son of a jailed ex-CNRP official was also beaten on the same day.
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