A Cambodian political activist in exile in Japan is demanding the release of his brother, who has been detained in Phnom Penh in a move seen as an act of “revenge” for criticism levelled against the previous Hun Sen government and his son Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Vannith Hay, 28, brother of activist Vanna Hay, was detained on August 16 as he attempted to cross the Cambodian border into Thailand, the latter told This Week in Asia. Vannith was trying to flee his homeland just days after Vanna managed to get seven members of his immediate family to Japan, where he has lived since 2008.
The Hay family was forced to flee as public criticism of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Triangle Development Area (CLV) mounted. A key project of Hun Manet and his father, the plan calls for the economic development of a vast area of the three nations’ border provinces.
