People
label boxes of provincial petitions yesterday after they were delivered
to the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters in Phnom Penh. Hong
Menea
CNRP compiles new petition for King
Tue, 14 June 2016 ppp
Meas Sokchea, Ananth Baliga and Mech Dara
The
Cambodia National Rescue Party compiled supporter thumbprints from
across the country at their headquarters yesterday, as they prepared a
second petition asking for King Norodom Sihamoni to intervene in the
escalating political crisis.
CNRP
provincial officials filed into party headquarters, bringing with them
thumbprints from each province, with party spokesman Yim Sovann saying
they had amassed close to 240,000 thumbprints, higher than the more than
170,000 collected for the first petition.
The
CNRP submitted the first petition on May 30 to King Sihamoni, asking
that he intervene in a host of “politically motivated” legal cases
targeting their members – including acting CNRP president Kem Sokha –
NGO workers and an election official. That petition is now under
investigation by the Interior Ministry after allegations of forged
thumbprints emerged in local media.
The party, Sovann said, has yet to decide on when to submit the new petition.
The
recent petition drive has been punctuated with instances of CNRP
supporters being briefly detained by authorities and made to thumbprint
documents promising to cease their activities. Koh Kong Governor Bun
Leut went so far as to say the petition drive would cause “social
chaos”.
But
holding up the 22,500 thumbprints from Kampong Cham, Nhay Chamroeun, a
CNRP lawmaker from the same province, yesterday said the people had a
right to attach their thumbprints to the petition and there was no law
preventing them from doing so. “The expression of this right through
giving their thumbprint is the gentlest way,” he said.
Today,
the party plans to hold a mass gathering and expects supporters from
across the country, especially from Phnom Penh and Kandal, to congregate
outside its headquarters.
However,
“fake” fliers conflating the gathering with a push to “topple” the
government were plastered on CNRP billboards in eight communes in Svay
Rieng province’s Svay Chrum district, said opposition lawmaker Ou
Chanrith, who distanced the party from the fliers.
Titled
“Announcing the rally on June 14 to topple dictator Hun Sen!”, the
flier reads: “All brothers, sisters and compatriots, especially the
youth, in [Cambodia] and overseas participate in large numbers to oppose
the ruling regime.”
Chanrith insisted yesterday the fliers did not come from the CNRP, and suggested they were the work of agent provocateurs.
“This
is to make turmoil, and by faking party documents they are trying to
place the blame on CNRP leaders,” he added. Pin An, Svay Chrum’s
district police chief, declined to comment on the fliers.
Today’s
mass gathering will coincide with a scheduled court appearance for
acting party president Sokha, who was called for questioning for
ignoring three prior summonses related to an alleged sex scandal.
The
CNRP, however, released another statement yesterday reaffirming its
decision to not allow Sokha to attend the hearing. The statement added
that lawyers for Sokha would present documents providing reasons as to
why he is not obligated to appear.
“If
court wants His Excellency Kem Sokha to go [to court] for clarifying,
the National Assembly must suspend his immunity first,” lawmaker Eng
Chhay Eang told supporters yesterday.
Police attempted to arrest Sokha on May 26 for skipping a court date, and he has since been holed up at party headquarters.
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