Two opposition party members in Battambang province have filed a complaint with police and the U.N.’s human rights office after receiving death threats in response to their efforts on Saturday to stop three Vietnamese men who were supposedly digging for treasure under a bridge in Battambang City.
The threats were made by a Facebook user named Rithy Phach on Monday against CNRP member Soun Chamroeun and Chan Poeu Rozeth, a Sam Rainsy Party councilor in O’Char commune.
“First, be careful of having your head shot and your place of selling cane juice would also be destroyed while your grandparents and parents stand watching you,” Rithy Phach wrote on Ms. Rozeth’s Facebook page, writing a similar message on Mr. Chamroeun’s page.
Mu Sochua, head of public affairs for the CNRP, initially interrupted the Vietnamese men, supposedly digging for buried gold, during a trip through the province on May 4.
Provincial CNRP councilor Chea Chiv said the two CNRP members had a subsequent argument with Chan Manai, chief of the provincial department of public works and transport, over the digging, which authorities have said was routine maintenance work on the bridge.
