The United States has joined the European Union and UN human rights agencies in expressing concern over the extended pretrial detention of five Cambodian human rights held for more than a year.
The five current or former staff members of the group ADHOC – the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association – are being held for allegedly bribing a woman to change testimony that was damaging to deputy opposition leader at the time Kem Sokha, who was accused of acting illegally in connection with an alleged extramarital affair.
The related cases are generally seen as part of a campaign by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to weaken its political opponents, especially ahead of nationwide local elections this June. Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodia People’s Party have hounded the opposition through the courts, which are considered to be under their political influence.
A Cambodian court late last month agreed to allow a six-month extension of the activists’ pretrial detention.
“They have been subjected to a never-ending nightmare of deliberate delays and political manipulation of the judicial system designed to punish them, and intimidate civil society to stifle any criticism of the government as the country heads into commune, and then national, elections,” New York-based Human Rights Watch and FORUM-ASIA, a network of human rights organisations, said last month.