Opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested at the CNRP’s Phnom Penh headquarters on Thursday morning little more than an hour after Prime Minister Hun Sen delivered a speech ordering police to apprehend him over a Facebook post, his party leader in the Senate said.
“I can confirm that Hong Sok Hour has been arrested at the CNRP’s headquarters in Chak Angre Loeu commune a few minutes ago,” said Kong Korm, president of the Sam Rainsy Party, a legacy party that exists for legal reasons, despite the party having merged into the CNRP.
“He was taken out of the CNRP headquarters but we do not know where he was taken to. We can say the arrest was made just after Hun Sen made the call for the authorities to arrest him,” added Mr. Korm, also a senator.
Kep Chuktema, a lawmaker for the ruling CPP, also posted to his own Facebook page in the morning that Mr. Hun Sen had called for Mr. Sok Hour’s arrest because the senator had posted fake international treaties to his Facebook page.
Mr. Sok Hour has played a key role in the CNRP’s recent campaign to uncover Vietnamese encroachments into Cambodia, having traveled to Paris to collect maps the party says it will use to check if border posts are correctly placed.
The CNRP has mounted a campaign over the past three months accusing the government of complicity in Vietnamese border encroachments, and of using incorrect border demarcation maps that cede land to Vietnam.
Mr. Sok Hour’s personal telephone rang on Thursday morning, but nobody answered.
