The Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community (CCFC) must freeze its activities as police investigate the organization more broadly following charges brought against three staff, an Interior Ministry official said.
“[We] are waiting for a report and we have not yet taken any measures, but they [CCFC] can’t do activities because police officials are investigating,” said Chhim Kan, the director of Association and Political Party Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, declining to comment further.
CCFC has been under scrutiny by authorities since holding a workshop in mid-May after which 17 staff were detained for around 24 hours and questioned by police. CCFC president Theng Savoeun and two colleagues were transferred back to Ratanakiri, where the workshop was held, and charged on Monday with plotting and incitement, which could lead to up to 10 years imprisonment.
But CCFC acting director Meun Rothana said Tuesday that the association had continued its work in its Phnom Penh office following the arrest of its president, although he said staff remained in fear of further arrests and questioning.
“They are afraid to come to work and some have asked to work from home,” Rothana said. “As long as there is no official letter to inform us of a temporary suspension, we are still working normally.”
No official letter has yet been issued suspending CCFC’s operations. The association is legally registered with the Interior Ministry and is following the law, said Rothana, calling again for his three colleague’s release.
Yet by Tuesday evening CCFC’s website was no longer accessible beyond the home page, which said “we’re working hard to finish the development of this site.”
“We are working to improve security and privacy on our website, no one blocked it,” Rothana said. “We will re-launch it soon.”
Interior Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak, who previously accused the three detained CCFC staff with plotting a “peasant revolution,” could not be reached for comment.
“Staff are concerned about their personal security,” Rothana said.
National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun would implement the law if it stipulated the organization should be closed down.
“If the law allows us to shut down we’ll shut it down,” Kim Khoeun said. “And if law is allowed to operate we can’t prevent them [from operating].”
A CCFC representative from Koh Kong, Det Hou, said a group of farmers tried again to deliver a petition to the Ministry of Justice Tuesday afternoon but were led away by police, leading to several hours delay.
“We want this message to reach Samdech, who is open-hearted and always pardons the innocents, to release Theng Savoeun and his two other colleagues,” Det Hou told CamboJA. “We hope that he will intervene in the Ratanakiri provincial court, so that they [the CCFC staffers] can be released soon to continue their normal work.”
Hou said that Savoeun and his colleagues had advised farmers like him on how to make compost fertilizers, raise hens, plant vegetables and help farmers to provide with other technical support.
“I see that this is very unfair for [Savoeun] as he has not done anything wrong,” Hou said. “Just helping poor farmers to better their livelihood and live in prosperity.”
