Cambodian PM denies stage managing rallies

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday denied his ruling party orchestrated mass rallies against an opposition leader who allegedly described a notorious Khmer Rouge prison as a Vietnamese invention. 

“The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is not playing dirty tricks,” strongman Hun Sen said in a speech on national radio, barely a week after all opposition MPs were controversially expelled from parliament ahead of upcoming elections.

 

“If CPP leaders, especially Hun Sen... lead the protest, you cannot bear it,” he said. 

Had it been his party which organised the protests, opposition figures would have been forced to seek asylum with foreign embassies, Hun Sen said. About 10,000 Cambodians protested in the capital on Sunday against Kem Sokha, the deputy head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), who purportedly said that Tuol Sleng prison in the capital Phnom Penh was fabricated by Vietnamese soldiers who ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

The CNRP has said his remarks—posted on a government website last month—were doctored to cause “political trouble” before the July 28 elections, when Hun Sen is seeking to extend his nearly three decades in power. 

Kem Sokha has accused the ruling party of inciting the protests against him, and complained that his political meetings were disrupted by hundreds of protesters this week. 

He urged the government to take measures so that he could continue his activities without harassment and to ensure the upcoming polls would be free and fair. 

Hun Sen has led the country since 1985 and his government is regularly accused of suppressing political freedoms and mistreating activists. He called for the rallies to be suspended to clear the air before the polls. 

But his administration has already faced international pressure over the elections. On Monday it accused foreign governments of interfering in its internal politics, after the United States said it was “deeply concerned” at parliament’s expulsion of opposition lawmakers. 

All 28 MPs belonging to the two opposition parties were accused of violating parliament’s internal rules by leaving their parties to create a new political force—CNRP—to challenge Hun Sen.  

They are not banned from standing in the election. 

The Cambodian leader’s main opponent, Sam Rainsy, is barred from running in the election due to convictions which he contends are politically motivated. 

A former governor of a Cambodian town shot into a crowd of demonstrating workers until his gun stuck and then fled, a policeman told a provincial court yesterday.

The workers had been demonstrating about labour conditions at a textile plant in the town of Bavet, in south-eastern Cambodia. Chhouk Bandith, who was removed from the town governor position after the incident, is facing charges for shooting three workers.

The three women shot were not protesting, but on their way to work. They all survived.

“Bandith was shooting at workers until his gun got stuck, and then fled away,” policeman Long Phorn said in Svay Rieng Provincial Court on Thursday. Six other witnesses said the well-connected politician carried a gun on February 20, 2012, the day of the incident.

The demonstrating workers are employees at Kaoway Sports, a supplier to Puma. At the time of the shooting, they were staging a peaceful demonstration for better working conditions, including a minimum living wage of 61 dollars a month and lunch allowance.

The case has been tossed between courts and faced many delays. Bandith and his lawyer - who left on Wednesday after an apparent technical error that put him on the witness list - were absent during Wednesday’s and today’s sessions.

“This case must be transferred to Phnom Penh, as Svay Rieng court has shown they can’t handle the case,” said Virak Ou, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

Tola Moeun, head of the labour programme at the Community Legal Education Center, said the verdict will be today. “Based on the testimonies he should be prosecuted.”