The International Commission of Jurist (ICJ) based in Bangkok, Thailand, demanded the Cambodian government to immediately end legal harassment against human rights defender Mr. Ny Chakrya, Head of Human Rights and Legal Aid Section for local human rights group ADHOC.
The prominent human rights defender who frequently criticizes the irregularity in the judicial system in Cambodia was sued by two officials of Siem Reap’s Court of First Instance after he spoke during a press conference on 20 May 2015, condemning the arbitrary arrest and detention of two villagers who became the victim of a land dispute with Community Takhmao Development Agricultural & Industrial and whose arrest and detention was ordered by Mr. Sok Keo Bandith, Deputy Prosecutor, and Mr. Ky Rithy, Investigating Judge of Siem Reap’s Provincial Court.
Mr. Ny Chakrya filed a complaint with the President of the Supreme Council of Magistracy against the judicial officers; however, no action has been taken against them to this day.
“The legal harassment of Ny Chakrya for merely raising allegations of human rights violations is itself a clear violation of human rights,” said Kingsley Abbot, ICJ’s International Legal Adviser. He added “human rights defenders play a vital role in promoting and protecting human rights and the State has a duty to create the conditions for them to be able to carry out their work effectively and without fear of retaliation.”
On 13 July 2015 at 8:30am, Mr. Ny Chakrya was questioned by the Deputy Prosecutor of the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, with which the Prosecutor and Investigating Judge of the Siem Reap Provincial Court had filed the complaint. The complaint is currently under consideration by the Deputy Prosecutor, consulting all the evidence before him.
