09 May 2016•Update: 11 May 2016
By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Cambodian authorities intensified their crackdown on civil society Monday by arresting six people attempting to protest the detention of four human rights defenders and an electoral body official last week.
Rights group Licadho said Monday’s demonstration, which was scheduled to take place outside the prison where the advocates are being held, was dubbed a “Black Monday” event in which participants donned the color to show their support for the five.
Last week, charges of bribery were issued against four staff members from rights group Adhoc for assisting Khom Chandaraty, a woman who recently admitted to having had an affair with deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha.
A United Nations worker and a member of the National Election Committee were also charged with being accomplices, but the UN worker has immunity and has not been taken in.
The case has been described as a politically motivated attempt to stifle the work of civil society groups in Cambodia.
On Monday morning, police blocked the road leading to Prey Sar prison, as well as a community of lands rights activists who intended to attend the rally.
Licadho said “two senior human rights workers” -- including its own deputy director -- and four land rights activists were arrested as they attempted to make their way to the prison complex.
The Phnom Penh Post reported that two foreign consultants who work with Licadho were also detained.
Maina Kiai, the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, tweeted Monday that it is “imperative that [governments] distinguish between ‘rebellion’ [and] peaceful dissent”, but that he was “not seeing that in Cambodia”.
In a statement released Monday morning, the International Commission of Jurists expressed concern over the likelihood of human rights defenders and political opponents currently in detention receiving fair trials.
The recent wave of harassment of their activities, it said, “raises serious questions as to the impartiality of the investigators, prosecutors and judges involved.”
The Commission said an independent review should be carried out to assess the validity of the cases before the courts, particularly “if the allegations are found to be groundless or the proceedings to have been unlawful or abusive.”
According to an unofficial translation of a statement released Sunday by the Ministry of Interior, the ministry warned that “any activity conducted by non-governmental organization and association must be within the legal framework and shall not in any way harm peace, stability and harmony of the people.”
In October last year, a protest was held -- unimpeded -- outside the National Assembly by pro-ruling party supporters calling for the ouster of Sokha.
During that rally, two opposition lawmakers were beaten as police stood by.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan could not be reached for comment Monday.
