Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Cambodian government to immediately drop the charges of those who were arbitrarily arrested for publicly criticizing the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Areas (CLV-DTA).
However, government spokesperson Pen Bona stated that those who were arrested “violated laws” and had nothing to do with them exercising their freedom of expression.
According to the HRW statement on Wednesday, 94 people were arrested, with at least 59 charged, under arrest or in pretrial detention.
The 59 people who were arrested included environmental and human rights activists, as well as “children”. They were unlawfully detained and charged for expressing their views on the agreement or organizing peaceful protests.
Twenty-one people have been charged with incitement to commit a felony, and 33 people face charges of plotting against the state, including four young adult members of Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA).
Following the first few arrests of three activists in July, Telegram groups with thousands of members were formed and began organizing public gatherings and peaceful marches against the CLV-DTA agreement, it said.
“The mass arrests of CLV-DTA activities are a deliberate, coordinated effort by Cambodian authorities to intimidate critics and prevent them from demonstrating in Phnom Penh or sharing their views on social media,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director of HRW.
“These wrongful detentions, and charges show Prime Minister Hun Manet’s disrespect for the rights of Cambodians and the country’s international human rights obligations,” she said.
National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun declined to disclose the exact number of people who planned to join the anti-CVL-DTA demonstration.
“They [HRW] may have heard whatever but I don’t have a figure to report. And I don’t have anything to tell the reporter either,” he said.
He declined to comment further and referred answers to local online media Freshnews posted on August 18 when he was quoted as saying that 31 people were arrested for attempting to overthrow the government.
The demonstration, which did not happen on August 18, was sparked by several thousand Cambodians protesting in South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the United States to oppose the CVL-DTA due to concerns of Cambodia losing territory in northeast provinces to Vietnam.
Government spokesperson Pen Bona said Cambodia, like other countries, upheld the rule of law and only took action against people who violated the law.
“I would like to inform you that there was no arrest [of people] who expressed their opinion on Cambodia but only legal action on individuals who broke the law,” he said.
“Human Rights Watch should research clearly before issuing a report on whether legal action was taken against those people,” Bona said.
He pointed out that Cambodian people have full right to freedom of expression in line with the law, and other freedoms.
Candlelight Party secretary-general Ly Sothearayuth told CamboJA News that if the CLV-DTA situation remained tense, it would affect non-governmental party activities and the safety of party members.
He said the party has instructed its members to stop their activities, such as meetings, over the last two weeks to avoid being accused of rallying against the CLV-DTA.
“We don’t want any accusation or suspicion, although our activities are honest political activities, including gatherings with activists and our members, which are common in political parties,” Sothearayuth said.
Candlelight Party would resume its political activities soon, including meetings with members at grassroots level to discuss their position and strengthen its structure.
“This is an image of intimidation and restricted right to freedom of doing politics which is enshrined in the constitution,” said Kong Monika, secretary-general of Khmer Will Party, which is one of the coalition opposition parties.
He observed that 10 opposition party members had been arrested and charged with incitement, urging the government to open up the space for freedom of expression and respect human rights.
NGO rights group Licadho operations director Am Sam Ath said the HRW figures were concerning because the charges against the detainees were serious, involving “conspiracy and incitement”, which was very worrying.
“Recently, we have also seen a lot of criticism that human rights and democracy issues are taking a step backwards in Cambodia,” he said, adding that civil society organizations have always focused on human rights, so they remain concerned.
