Defiant Kem Sokha Still Free, Still in Hiding

 Cambodia Daily | 15 June 2016

A free man for another night, deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha remained in high spirits on Tuesday, according to a CNRP official, after armed police spent the day “training” around the corner from his sanctuary inside party headquarters in Phnom Penh.

Mr. Sokha has been hiding inside the building since May 26, when police tried to storm the property and stopped his wife’s car in a failed attempt to arrest him for not heeding a court summons for questioning over a sex scandal.

Police relax between training exercises in an empty lot near the CNRP’s headquarters in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

A few hundred CNRP supporters on Tuesday poured into the area in front of the headquarters starting at about 7 a.m. to prevent any more attempts to arrest Mr. Sokha for ignoring yet another summons—this time for the crime of failing to appear in court the last two times.

Many of the supporters wore white shirts to show their determination to protect Mr. Sokha’s immunity from prosecution as an elected lawmaker, and images on social media of armed police in an empty lot around the corner spread among the crowd.

Some of the police were armed with rifles and exercised in rows inside the lot, only a few hundred meters away. Metal barricades had been placed on the sides of the road about 1 km away from the building but went untouched throughout the day.

No attempts to arrest Mr. Sokha had been made as of late Tuesday night, and Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak claimed in the evening that the police were simply doing routine exercises and had not been sent to threaten Mr. Sokha on his court date.

“They were just exercising. Do we need to find the schedule for them doing exercises?” Gen. Sopheak said, before acknowledging that the police were in fact gathering there due to the CNRP rally around the corner.

CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang speaks outside the party’s headquarters. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

“They had to organize before the insecurity happens. For example, people or journalists like you could get afraid and run away,” he said.

Saran Komsath, a spokesman for the National Police, likewise denied that the police had any intention to arrest Mr. Sokha and said they were taking part in a scheduled training session.

He also said that the municipal court had not yet issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Sokha and that he would not be apprehended until it did.

Prince Sisowath Thomico, a member of the CNRP’s steering committee who visited Mr. Sokha inside the headquarters in the morning, said the deputy opposition leader had been in good spirits.

“He was good. He had high morale and everything was good,” Prince Thomico said. “He said he hoped that things would cool down and that hopefully he would be able to leave the headquarters freely.”

“I cannot speak for him, but I know that as long as the situation stands he will not leave. As soon as the situation cools down and becomes normal again, then he will leave the headquarters,” he said.

Prince Thomico added that he believed the absence of an arrest attempt on Tuesday boded well for Mr. Sokha’s future.

“It’s a good sign. It’s time for dialogue to begin again. It was a sign from the government,” he said.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said Mr. Sokha would remain in the party’s headquarters for now but was considering attending a ceremony to be held in Siem Reap City on Sunday.

CNRP supporters mill about outside party’s headquarters in Phnom Penh yesterday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

“On the 19th we will hold a Buddhist ceremony to pray for the respect of human rights, respect for parliamentary immunity, but he could join or not,” Mr. Sovann said.

“We will inform you later about whether he will go in public or not, because we need to observe the situation and the procedures in Kem Sokha’s case.”

In the morning, three lawyers for Mr. Sokha went to the court on his behalf to explain why he would not show himself. The CNRP has said Mr. Sokha’s immunity from prosecution as a lawmaker precludes him from having to show up for questioning, a point the lawyers repeated on Tuesday.

Ly Sophanna, a spokesman for the municipal court, said Mr. Sokha’s absence would now be reviewed.

“The investigating judge, Thann Leng, is reviewing the case of Kem Sokha not turning up this morning so the judge can continue to the next procedures,” Mr. Sophanna said, referring questions about those procedures to the judge, who could not be reached.

Kem Ley, a political analyst who heads the Khmer for Khmer advocacy group, said he thought the CPP was backing down from its plans to arrest Mr. Sokha after seeing the strong reaction.

“I think that after they saw the strength from the E.U., U.S., U.N. and also the strength of the people from the ground, the ruling party did not want to arrest Kem Sokha or even Sam Rainsy,” Mr. Ley said.

“Now Kem Sokha is unable to go down to the communities, so it fits their strategy,” he added. “Now they are also testing the social movement: If they [were to] arrest the leader, what would happen?”

Mr. Ley said Mr. Sokha could not stay in hiding forever and that opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is living in Paris to avoid his own jail sentence, should take the “golden chance” to return and stare down the CPP with Mr. Sokha.

“I recommend Sam Rainsy comes back to Cambodia and Kem Sokha walks out from house arrest to go to the airport [to meet him] with the members of the parliament and all the activists to face what the government wants to do,” Mr. Ley said.

“There’s no need for negotiations—they must confront the power abuses, even if they are arrested.”