During a bail hearing on Friday for Ny Chakrya, a former rights worker and senior election official who has been jailed for 330 days, a prosecutor chided his lawyer for bringing up the “Black Monday” campaign, which the government had deemed illegal.
Arguing for the release of his client, who is in provisional detention for allegedly being an accomplice in a bribery case, attorney Sam Sokong said that his client was not a flight risk and also noted the anger his imprisonment has caused.
“It’s been 11 months, so it’s not necessary to continue to detain my client,” he said. “And the court has seen the Black Monday campaign happened because of my client and the other four from Adhoc.”
Mr. Chakrya, who was in charge of monitoring for the local rights group before being named deputy secretary-general of the National Election Committee in January 2016, was arrested along with four current Adhoc officials for allegedly conspiring to bribe a mistress of CNRP President Kem Sokha to deny the affair.
The case was widely seen as being politically motivated, and sparked a campaign in which supporters wore black on Mondays in protest. The government quickly branded the campaign an “urban rebellion” and attempt at a “color revolution,” and those who took to the streets were regularly detained.
Ouk Kimsith, chief prosecutor at the Supreme Court, said that Mr. Sokong was out of line in raising the campaign as a reason to release his client.
“Please don’t bring up the Black Monday campaign to put pressure on the court,” he said, adding that Mr. Chakrya’s continued detention was in line with the law.
A decision on the bail request is due on March 31.
