Amnesty International issued a statement Friday broadly condemning government intimidation in Cambodia of activists, citing cases in the areas of logging, refugee protection and human rights.
“Human rights defenders in Cambodia are frequently targeted by authorities for the peaceful advocacy, and exercise, in the interest of others, of their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly,” the statement said.
Leading off the reasons for concern, according to Amnesty International, was the government’s recent decision to sue Eva Galabru, Global Witness country director for Cambodia, on a charge of spreading disinformation and threatening a penalty of up to three years in prison.
The lawsuit threat arose after Galabru told others in an e-mail that Cambodian police had used excessive force on Dec 5 to disperse a crowd of villagers who had gathered outside the offices of the Department of Forestry to request a meeting.
“The case against Eva Galabru comes despite independent corroboration of Global Witness’ findings by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia who characterized the use of force by the police as ‘excessive,’” the statement read.
Amnesty International said a continuing pattern of harassment toward human rights defenders has been seen in numerous cases in Cambodia in recent years, including the closure of a UN High Commissioner for Refugees reception office for Montagnard asylum seekers, the filing of a court summons against the acting head of Licadho and the arrest and detention of two Licadho staff following their monitoring of a demonstration in Sihanoukville over the dumping of toxic waste.
