Authorities in Cambodia have arrested one more member of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and charged five others, as a crackdown continues ahead of a planned return from self-imposed exile by the party’s acting president Sam Rainsy next month.
Three police officers in Kampong Cham province’s in Batheay district arrested CNRP activist Dong Sovannarith on Tuesday and brought him for questioning at the provincial police headquarters, despite failing to present a warrant, his wife, Nhorn Sokkeang, told RFA’s Khmer Service.
“When I asked him where he took my husband, why my husband was sent to the provincial police, and what my husband did wrong, he said it was because he had been told to do so and that he was just following orders,” she said of a phone conversation with one of the arresting officers.
“I said he had arrested my husband without reason and he hung up the phone. My husband was never involved in any problems … I think this is a political issue because my husband is a CNRP activist.”