After Arrests, NGOs Continue Petitioning to ‘Free the 23′
Following the arrest of 11 activists on Tuesday as they attempted to deliver a petition to the U.S. and French embassies seeking the release of 23 jailed protesters, NGO representatives quietly delivered similar petitions to the Japanese Embassy and European Union headquarters Wednesday. The petitioners, representing 181 NGOs and civil society groups, are scheduled to march to the German, South Korean, Australian and Thai embassies this morning to call for pressure on the government to release the 23 protesters, who were imprisoned following clashes with police on January 2 and 3. Phnom Penh Municipal Court this week denied bail for the 23 accused, citing the need to question them and maintain public order by keeping them incarcerated in a high-security prison located next to the border with Vietnam in Kompong Cham province. ... Thida Khus, the executive director of Silaka, a training NGO that is organizing today’s march, said that 40 to 50 petitioners planned to meet at 8:30 a.m. and walk together to the four embassies despite the CPP government’s ban on public gatherings of more than 10 people. ... “The municipality needs to respect the law themselves. They are robbing people of their rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution,” Ms. Khus said, referring to the indefinite suspension of the freedom of assembly, announced by City Hall and the Ministry of Interior on January 4, which experts say is illegal. ... The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) released a statement Wednesday condemning the Phnom Penh court’s decision to deny bail to the 23 detainees, who have not yet gone on trial but are being held in Correctional Center 3 in rural Kompong Cham province. “International law is clear that pre-trial detention should only be exercised in exceptional situations, and avoided if suitable alternatives are possible,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific. “The reasons presented by the [Phnom Penh] Court don’t justify holding these activists in prison right now.” Mr. Zarifi added that without compelling evidence that the prisoners are a flight risk or might interfere with an ongoing investigation, “the continued pre-trial detention of each of the 23 individuals would amount to arbitrary detention under international human rights standards.”
Aun Pheap and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-arrests-ngos-continue-petitioning-to-free-the-23-50966/
