Tbong Khmum, the nation’s youngest province, has faced a sharp crackdown against opposition supporters in the last several months, with at least nine activists in jail. But family members of imprisoned CNRP supporters say they will not be silenced.
Some provincial authorities are taking extra precautions with the hopes of preventing Covid-19 transmission after the government relaxed lockdowns in Phnom Penh and Takhmao and crowds departed the cities on Thursday.
Phnom Penh and the provinces of Kandal, Preah Sihanouk, Prey Veng and Siem Reap have been designated as Covid-19 outbreak areas where masks and social distancing are required.
Amid Cambodia’s worst Covid-19 outbreak to date, provinces outside the cluster’s urban epicenters of Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville are keeping a close watch on arrivals, hoping to prevent the disease’s spread across provincial borders.
A CNRP activist was arrested in Phnom Penh on Tuesday after being seen participating in small ongoing protests against the jailings of opposition supporters, with a rights group saying nearly 70 political and environmental activists have been imprisoned since the start of last year.
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.
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.
A CNRP activist who distributed T-shirts saying “Thank you for peace, but respect Article 2 of the Constitution” was questioned in court on Thursday as his brother railed that authorities “keep hunting down and persecuting people and do not allow them to live peacefully.”
Prominent unionist Rong Chhun, whose July arrest over comments he made about the Vietnam border sparked a series of protests, on Wednesday appealed for bail in the Supreme Court, but was shut down by judges for asking the court to “not be politically influenced.”
An activist for the banned CNRP has been charged with incitement and will be jailed, a police spokesperson said on Friday, after he spoke to others in Tbong Khmum province about joining the party’s Paris Peace Agreements protest in Phnom Penh, according to fellow opposition supporters.
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