People on a prison truck arrive at the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 17, 2022.
Cambodia’s government is systematically coercing and publicizing confessions from detained political opposition members and activists to undermine their political standing.By compelling the activists to join the ruling party, the authorities seek to discredit them and further cement effective one-party rule.The Cambodian government should drop politically motivated charges, quash unjust convictions, and immediately and unconditionally release wrongfully held activists and opposition politicians.
(Bangkok) – Cambodia’s government is systematically coercing and publicizing confessions from detained political opposition members and activists to undermine their political standing, Human Rights Watch said today. This mistreatment is part of a decade-long government campaign against political opponents, enabled by a government-controlled judiciary and state-aligned media outlets.
Cambodian authorities in recent years have frequently filed baseless criminal charges against opposition party members and activists to pressure them to make public apologies and join the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in exchange for being released from detention. State-aligned media regularly publish videos or statements of these coerced confessions, discrediting the political activists.
“Cambodia’s ruling party threatens political activists with absurd criminal charges and then coerces them to confess to the bogus crimes to gain their release,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “By compelling the activists to join the CPP, the authorities seek to discredit them and further cement effective one-party rule.”
Human Rights Watch reviewed more than 140 videos and news reports of public apologies and confessions by activists over the last decade and interviewed
