Rights groups and lawmakers are calling on Cambodian authorities to carry out a thorough and transparent investigation into the possible kidnapping of a Thai dissident in the capital, Phnom Penh, last week.
Wanchalearm Satsaksit was reportedly abducted by a group of armed men outside his apartment block on the afternoon of June 4, a few days after he posted a salacious Facebook message ridiculing Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha. He had fled Thailand when summoned for questioning by the military after a 2014 coup led by then-General Prayut and was hit with an arrest warrant two years ago over his Facebook page, which he has used to scold the junta and the government that followed a tainted election in 2019.
Eight other Thai dissidents in exile have gone missing in Laos and Vietnam since the coup. Two of them were later found dead in the Mekong River; their bodies had been weighted down with concrete, presumably to make them sink. None of the cases has been solved.
