Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday warned that those stirring up social unrest by calling for borrowers not to repay their debts, apparently alluding to opposition CNRP figure Sam Rainsy and his supporters, would be arrested — the same day a CNRP member was jailed.
A Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge and prosecutor probed Kem Sokha on Wednesday about his political collaboration with CNRP co-founder Sam Rainsy, in light of what the court officials called Rainsy’s “violent stance.”
Opposition leader Kem Sokha was questioned in court on Wednesday about who initiated discussions to merge his former party with the Sam Rainsy Party, why the parties joined together to form the now-banned CNRP and whether foreigners were involved in its creation.
UPDATED 8 p.m. — CNRP acting president Sam Rainsy arrived in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon, an official for the party’s overseas wing said.
CNRP acting president Sam Rainsy, who had pledged to return to Cambodia today with aims of putting the nation on a democratic path, will arrive in an undisclosed Asian country this afternoon, opposition vice president Mu Sochua said.
Some international airlines said this week that they had not been warned against bringing exiled senior opposition leaders back into the country, seemingly contradicting earlier statements by the Cambodian government.
CNRP acting president Sam Rainsy left Paris’s Charles De Gaulle Airport without boarding a flight to Thailand on Thursday, claiming the airline had denied him entry.
Cambodia’s ambassador to Indonesia on Wednesday interrupted a Jakarta press conference held by opposition vice-president Mu Sochua, who said the ambassador called her a “fugitive” and warned that Cambodian authorities would arrest her.
Nearly 20,000 members of the armed and police forces will be deployed during upcoming public holidays from Saturday when leaders of the outlawed opposition party have vowed to return to the country.
Nearly 50 airlines have been warned that they could face criminal prosecution if they carry Sam Rainsy and other senior opposition officials into Cambodia, the Civil Aviation Secretariat has said, while Rainsy on Monday again vowed to return to the country this weekend.
Local industry groups have asked the E.U. to postpone the partial withdrawal of Cambodia’s tariff-free access to the European bloc for a year to allow the garment sector time to recover from the ongoing pandemic-spurred economic crisis.
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