An incumbent commune councilor of Candlelight Party in Kampong Thom and a 22-year-old youth in Takeo province have been arrested for allegedly inciting people to topple the government with regards to the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Areas (CLV-DTA).
Kampong Thom provincial deputy prosecutor Say Veasna confirmed that Huy Sopheak, Srayov commune councilor, was arrested on Wednesday, following an arrest warrant by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for incitement to disturb social security.
“He [Sopheak] disseminated information to confuse the public, inciting them to protest. This is illegal because the project [CLV-DTA] was established many years ago,” he said, adding that Sopheak has been sent to Phnom Penh.
Similarly, 22-year-old San Phanith was arrested in Takeo province following a warrant issued by the same court for the same reason, online media Freshnews reported on Wednesday.
A Telegram channel named “Roub Roum Dermei Cheat” (United For The Nation) which had a total of 17,578 members as of Tuesday, has been deleted. The channel, which is no longer active, had planned a demonstration against the CLV-DTA, calling people to gather in Phnom Penh on August 18. The members also allegedly urged the government to withdraw from the agreement.
During a meeting with priests and nuns at the National Education Institute in Phnom Penh on Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Manet said the government has carried out its duty to enforce the law to protect the rights and freedom of 17 million people in the country, about two million of them in Phnom Penh.
“For the provocateurs, mostly in Japan, I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to ask the Japanese government […] There’s evidence now that they [demonstrators] came out […] whether Japan supported [them] in using Japanese territory to provoke [Cambodians] to overthrow the government,” he said.
“It does not matter that it was a legal expression of opinion. I don’t require Japan to send them back but it should instruct whether Japan supports the use of its territory as a base to lead demonstrations to topple the government as the message was clear – ‘we have to topple the government’,” Hun Manet said.
When contacted via email, the Japanese embassy in Cambodia said they have not been able to confirm the facts of the demonstration in Japan at the time and refrained from commenting on it.
Meanwhile, Hun Manet called on “compatriots to join together to develop the borders in order to protect territorial sovereignty as well as to eliminate suspicion”.
Separately, the Education, Youth and Sport Ministry advised educators, teachers, and students to refrain from participating in an “insurgency to overthrow the legitimate government”, and support the CLV-DTA and the government.
“The plan to mobilize locals to demonstrate against the CLV-DTA is not an expression of opinion,” the ministry said in a statement. “It’s an incitement and provocation and a deceptive political tactic to mobilize innocent people to demonstrate and overthrow a legitimate government,” it said.
NGO rights group Licadho operations director Am Sam Ath expressed concern over the arrest of people in relation to the CLV-DTA and urged the government to provide more explanation.
“We’re worried that some people have been arrested. However, we are working human rights defenders and we want the government to provide more explanation on the agreement for people inside and outside [the country] to understand the issue,” he said.
The Interior Ministry recently issued an order to armed forces, provincial governors and municipalities to restrict people from entering Phnom Penh as a group till the end of August to prevent “extremist groups” from organizing a “color revolution” to topple the government.
Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak said the authorities continue to target both online or digital technology and suspicious activities and people to maintain security and public order in the society.
“We have concluded that there is enough evidence [to show] that only young people, both foreigners and locals, who are their leaders, are beyond free speech and not protected by the law,” he said. “They plan to organize a riot, maybe a color revolution, to overthrow the legitimate government, using the pattern of other countries.”
Sokhak mentioned that the measures implemented by the ministry were preventive measures looking at the situation at the grassroots level. The ministry has the right to implement them but “we don’t mean that all activities are banned”. He added that traveling or any “legal gatherings” are allowed.
“We do not infringe on the freedom of movement, the freedom of expression or the freedom of assembly [which is allowed by the law], except those activities which we deem illegal and don’t comply with the law,” he said.
Both National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun and Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesperson Y Rin could not be reached for comment.
