Bangkok Post
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday
denied his ruling party orchestrated mass rallies against an opposition
leader who allegedly described a notorious Khmer Rouge prison as a
Vietnamese invention.
Cambodia's
Prime Minister, Hun Sen, pictured during the ASEAN summit, in Bandar
Seri Begawan, Brunei, on April 25, 2013. Hun Sen on Thursday denied his
ruling party orchestrated mass rallies against an opposition leader who
allegedly described a notorious Khmer Rouge prison as a Vietnamese
invention.
"The Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is not
playing dirty tricks," strongman Hun Sen said in a speech on national
radio, barely a week after all opposition MPs were controversially
expelled from parliament ahead of upcoming elections.
"If CPP leaders, especially Hun Sen... lead the protest, you cannot bear it," he said.
Had
it been his party which organised the protests, opposition figures
would have been forced to seek asylum with foreign embassies, Hun Sen
said.
About 10,000 Cambodians protested in the capital on Sunday
against Kem Sokha, the deputy head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party
(CNRP), who purportedly said that Tuol Sleng prison in the capital
Phnom Penh was fabricated by Vietnamese soldiers who ousted the Khmer
Rouge in 1979.
The CNRP has said his remarks -- posted on a
government website last month -- were doctored to cause "political
trouble" before the July 28 elections, when Hun Sen is seeking to extend
his nearly three decades in power.
Kem Sokha has accused the
ruling party of inciting the protests against him, and complained that
his political meetings were disrupted by hundreds of protesters this
week.
He urged the government to take measures so that he could
continue his activities without harassment and to ensure the upcoming
polls would be free and fair.
Hun Sen has led the country since
1985 and his government is regularly accused of suppressing political
freedoms and mistreating activists. He called for the rallies to be
suspended to clear the air before the polls.
But his
administration has already faced international pressure over the
elections. On Monday it accused foreign governments of interfering in
its internal politics, after the United States said it was "deeply
concerned" at parliament's expulsion of opposition lawmakers.
All
28 MPs belonging to the two opposition parties were accused of violating
parliament's internal rules by leaving their parties to create a new
political force -- CNRP -- to challenge Hun Sen.
The
Cambodian leader's main opponent, Sam Rainsy, is barred from running in
the election due to convictions which he contends are politically
motivated.
1 comment:
Look at this thug. I hate his face.
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