A monk is taken in for questioning by police officials during an opposition rally on Friday in Oddar Meanchey province. Facebook |
CNRP members receive summons
Phnom Penh Post | 29 May 2017
The fallout from a confrontation between rival political party
rallies in Takeo province last week escalated over the weekend, with
five opposition members, including a commune chief candidate, receiving a
court summons over the incident in Koh Andet district’s Prey Khla
commune.
According to a letter issued by Takeo Provincial Prosecutor Tep
Munin, Cambodia National Rescue Party candidate for Prey Khla commune
Keo Eath, and opposition activists Sok Sang, Hem Korn, Chun Choeun and
Morm Saroeun have been accused of defamation, incitement and insults,
and were asked to appear in court on May 31.
The summons, issued on May 25 and received by the activists on Saturday, did not specify who had lodged the complaint.
However, a CNRP official said it was lodged by the ruling Cambodian
People’s Party, whose local official, Pech Chhim, has already lodged a
complaint with the Provincial Election Committee over the standoff on
May 20, which involved a heated exchange between groups of campaigners.
Reached yesterday, Eath criticised the lodging of a court complaint, saying election authorities should deal with the matter.
The CNRP candidate rejected any allegation of wrongdoing and said he
would not attend the hearing, saying the complaint was “politically
motivated”.
Explaining the incident, he said: “First they insulted me and I told
them not to insult me or I would insult back. They accused our party of
being a party that kills people, but I yelled back that we never kill
anyone.”
Chhim and Munin were not reachable yesterday to discuss the court case.
According to the complaint about the incident to the PEC – which
Takeo PEC Chief Nuon Saren said is still being investigated – Chhim, the
deputy commune chief for Prey Khla, accused the CNRP members of
intentionally blocking a ruling party march as it headed down a dirt
road, which he alleged violated the election law.
The tense encounter is one of several alleged incidents of wrongful
conduct filed with the NEC since campaigning began. Adviser to the NEC
Keo Phalla said on Friday that 34 complaints had so far been lodged with
authorities ahead of the June 4 poll, including 29 from the CPP and
five from the opposition.
This is a significant drop from the same period during the 2013
national election, when more than 100 complaints were filed, NEC
spokesman Hang Puthea added yesterday. However, the election atmosphere
remains tense.
On Friday morning, four Buddhist monks – Loun Sovath, Prim Huon, Seng Nara and Nob Vanny – were briefly detained and had their phones confiscated during an opposition party rally in Oddar Meanchey.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Oddar Meanchey Deputy Provincial
Police Chief Lek Sokha said his officers had reacted to a Facebook Live
video by Huon accusing officers of harassing CNRP supporters, which he
denied.
Sokha denied they had “detained” the group, despite a photo showing
at least one of the monks being forcibly restrained by an officer. “We
just invited the monks to a nearby pagoda to meet the provincial monk
chief. After we deleted everything we returned their possessions.”
Sovath, however, denied they had made any comments that warranted what he called a “violation of our rights”.
“We used Facebook to broadcast true, fair and neutral information,” Sovath said.
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