Cambodia summons defunct party members for questions

PHNOM PENH: A court in northwestern Cambodia has summoned for questioning more than two dozen members of the defunct opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, accusing them of engaging in politics even though their party was dissolved by the Supreme Court a year and a half ago.

The action was criticised yesterday by New York-based Human Rights Watch, which called for the court in Battambang province to cease such actions immediately.

“The Cambodian government continues to harass numerous opposition officials in the courts and to threaten them with prison time long after the main opposition party was unjustifiably disbanded,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in an emailed statement.

“The government should immediately end the political harassment against the CNRP and drop this latest batch of absurd court cases.”

The Supreme Court on Nov 16, 2017, ordered the opposition party dissolved on the unsupported pretext that it conspired with the United States to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government, a move seen as a government effort to ensure it won last July’s general election.

Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party ended up sweeping all 125 National Assembly seats.

Because they considered the elections neither free nor fair, Western nations applied diplomatic sanctions against Hun Sen’s government.

The European Union has set in motion a process to withdraw trade privileges from Cambodia unless it takes measure to improve civil and human rights.

Hun Sen has decried these actions and blamed the opposition for encouraging them.

The court’s ruling also banned 118 senior members of the CNRP from political activity for five years, but did not include any of the 26 people summoned in Battambang, who mainly were local officials who just had to leave their jobs.