Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha plans to again ignore a court summons today, with an Interior Ministry spokesman remaining coy on Monday about whether he would be arrested and Prime Minister Hun Sen promising to prevent any protests launched by the CNRP.
Police tried to arrest Mr. Sokha on May 26 for failing to appear for questioning over a sex scandal the government has been prosecuting against him since March, and he has since been hiding out in the CNRP’s headquarters in Phnom Penh.
Speaking outside the building on Monday, CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang said Mr. Sokha’s parliamentary immunity from prosecution was still intact, so the court could not order him to show up.
“If the court wants Kem Sokha for questioning, it needs the National Assembly to take away his immunity,” Mr. Chhay Eang told supporters, who started pouring in from the provinces on Monday to protect Mr. Sokha.
“The lawyers will go to court to give the reason that Kem Sokha is not appearing,” he said.
The May 26 attempt to arrest Mr. Sokha was executed with authorities citing the one exception to immunity for lawmakers: when they are caught in the act of committing a crime.
By failing to show up in court, prosecutors argued, Mr. Sokha was actively breaking the law. The CPP’s lawmakers met in the National Assembly days after to approve Mr. Sokha’s prosecution—a move slammed by the CNRP as unconstitutional.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak, in an apparent hint of dissent against the government’s dogged pursuit of Mr. Sokha’s arrest, then said in a series of interviews earlier this month that police might ignore an arrest warrant for Mr. Sokha if enforcing it would spark violence.
On Monday, General Sopheak would not comment on whether police would again try to arrest Mr. Sokha for failing to show up in court when summoned, saying only: “Please wait and see.”
Late last month, the CNRP delivered what it said were 170,000 thumbprints on petitions asking the king to intervene in the political crisis, and has since been preparing another petition that it says now has more than 220,000 thumbprints.
The CNRP has also threatened mass demonstrations in Phnom Penh if Mr. Sokha is jailed, but Mr. Chhay Eang told supporters the party had no plans for any activity away from the headquarters.
“I want to clarify from the CNRP to the public that we’re asking you to come here to watch the situation of Kem Sokha tomorrow,” Mr. Chhay Eang said.
Mr. Hun Sen, speaking at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh, said he would not allow any protests to go ahead if the CNRP carried through on past threats.
“Please do not make threats,” he said. “The word ‘demonstration’ shall not be used…. I will not forgive, I am telling you in advance.”
“In the past, you held demonstrations and caused chaos just to demand National Assembly positions,” he said. “Now it’s a matter about mistresses, and you bring people to hold a demonstration to defend you.”
“Is it reasonable?” he said.
(Additional reporting by Kuch Naren)
