Rong Chhun calls his arrest and detention as the root causes of bad name for the government

Phnom Penh, Cambodia — Leader of the trade union, Mr. Rong Chhun affirmed during the trial today that the root causes of making the Hun Sen’s government has bad name and affects the reputation of Mr. Hun Sen is his arrest, not because of his statement about the land issues at the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

This affirmation was made when the Phnom Penh Court of First Instance, dated February 3, 2021 opened a trial of a case of the Cambodia Watch representatives namely Mr. Rong Chhun, Ms. Sor Kanika and Mr. Ton Nimol, accused them of “incitement to commit serious unrest to society.”

In the court room, the defender for the government Mr. Chhin Boravuth asked to Mr. Rong Chhun why did you make the statement related to the border issue? The same defender regarded the statement of Mr. Rong Chhun dated July 20, 2020 as it affected seriously to the government’s reputation.
Standing inside the accused dock, dressed in dark yellow clothes with firm facial appearance, the former member of the National Election Committee, Mr. Rong Chhun has answered to the government’s defender questions that he had no intention to see or talk about the border. But people told me that the root causes of their land dispute related to the border demarcation poles that made them lost their lands and affecting their livelihood.

This representative of the Cambodia Watch affirmed in the court room that his statement does not affect to Hun Sen’s reputation, but his arrest does affects to the reputation of the government.
Mr. Rong Chhun was arrested in the end of July 2020 and accused of inciting serious unrest to the society after this trade union leader released a statement in relation to lands issues in Tbong Khmum province borders with Vietnam.

The arrest of Rong Chhun in July 2020, Hun Sen has confirmed that he gave order to arrest Mr. Rong Chhun and Mr. Soung Sophorn, leader of Khmer Victory Party after this politician demanding for the release of Mr. Rong Chhun and elaborated about the border where Rong Chhun was arrested.
Hun Sen claimed that he would arrest more government critics over border issue, particularly those who accuse his government as traitor because it makes a lost of Cambodian land to Vietnam.

However, local and international NGOs are demanding for release of Mr. Rong Chhun, opposition activists and human rights activists as well as environmental activists who have been arrested in relation with demanding for Mr. Rong Chhun’s release and are being accused of similar incitement.

In September 2020, nearly 40 civil society organizations requested the government of Hum Sen t stop the use of incitement accusation because this accusation affects seriously on the freedom of expression of the people in Cambodia and also contradicts to the national and international principles.

This article was translated from Khmer article by Cambodia Daily, published on February 5, 2021 at: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/2021/02/05/17/52/51942/