Opposition Leader Says Will Give up ‘Freedom and Even my Life’ For Cambodia Democracy

Exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Thursday he was ready to go to jail or die for the cause of restoring democracy in Cambodia, vowing to return home on Nov. 9 in the face of threats by “brutal dictator” Hun Sen.

In a Facebook video statement, Sam Rainsy, the acting president of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), appealed to the world to “please have Cambodia in your thoughts on that day” when he faces down the strongman who has ruled the Southeast Asian country since 1985.

“After several years in exile I am returning to Cambodia on November 9. Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is known as a brutal dictator, has vowed to arrest me and ordered the armed forces to destroy what he calls the ‘rodents’ that I will be leading peacefully back to our country,” he said, speaking in English from Paris.

In full: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/samrainsy-message-10312019202234.html

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