Cambodia Must Release Opposition Leader Cheam Channy, UN Says Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia must release jailed deputy opposition leader Cheam Channy and restore the parliamentary immunity stripped from him and two other politicians, including opposition leader Sam Rainsy, the United Nations said. ``These developments raise concerns about an increasingly autocratic form of government and the future of democracy in Cambodia,'' Peter Leuprecht, the UN special representative for human rights in Cambodia, said yesterday in a statement from Geneva, according to the UN Web site. Sam Rainsy last week flew to France and another deputy, Chea Poch, went to the U.S. after their immunity was lifted, Agence France-Presse reported at the time. Cheam Channy was arrested Feb. 3 and accused of trying to start a militia, AFP said. Cambodia's government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, is trying to silence the opposition by accusing members of forming an illegal armed force, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a report last July. Cambodia was without a government for more than a year after political parties failed to agree on forming a coalition following elections in June 2003. Hun Sen formed a government in July last year with the royalist Funcinpec party led by Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 73 of the 123 National Assembly seats in the 2003 election, short of a two-thirds majority needed to form a government on its own. Funcinpec won 26 seats and the Sam Rainsy Party took 24 seats. Condemning Moves The U.S. government last week condemned the moves against opposition leaders. There is ``growing intimidation of opposition voices in Cambodia,'' according to a statement from the State Department. ``The lifting of immunity and the arrest come as the latest of several actions in recent months which cast doubts on the commitment of the two parties in Cambodia's coalition government, the Cambodian People's Party and Funcinpec to a genuine pluralistic democratic system,'' Leuprecht said in his statement. The Cambodian government hasn't commented on the statements. Immunity in parliament is intended to protect lawmakers from possibly groundless proceedings or accusations that may be politically motivated or made in bad faith, Leuprecht said. The Sam Rainsy Party has been denied seats on National Assembly commissions, he said. Cheam Channy's arrest is linked to accusations made by Hun Sen in July last year that the Sam Rainsy Party was organizing a secret military force, Leuprecht said. ``Few outside military intelligence and the military court seem to have given credibility to these allegations,'' Leuprecht said. ``Senior CPP government officials have publicly declared that the authorities have found no evidence of an armed force being created.'' Sam Rainsy said last week he won't return to Cambodia until details of four charges made against him are revealed, AFP reported. One charge is over a complaint for defamation by Hun Sen, the news agency said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net Last Updated: February 7, 2005 18:53 EST
Copyright(c)2001 Computer Now, All RightsReserved | Contact | Built on wwpinTechnology | Privacy
