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WASHINGTON – Kem Monovithya, a Cambodian political activist, was visiting Switzerland in September when she received a phone call from her father. Kem Sokha, the leader of the main Cambodian opposition party, told his daughter that government agents were raiding their family's home in Phnom Penh
"He said to me," They handcuff me now, "recalled Kem Monovithya, 36, in an interview with the Associated Press.
Months later, her father remains in prison, charged with treason, and is in the United States. [19659002] She said that she could not go home because she feared too, will be arrested as part of a government crackdown that banned the political party led by her father, closed the doors. media and dispersed hundreds of Cambodian politicians, human rights activists and journalists in exile in the United States, Australia, Thailand and other countries 19659002] The ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the Cambodian People's Party, stepped up its actions against med organizations ias and opposition politicians in the last two years as national elections – scheduled for Sunday – are getting closer Hun Sen, who had held power for three decades, promised last year that he would be ready to "eliminate 100 to 200 people" to protect the security of the nation, suggesting that his opponents "prepare coffins."
The spokespersons for the ruling party and the government did not respond to AP questions for this story.
In February, the government released a 132-page book claiming that "true democracy is not overthrown …"
The international monitoring group Human Rights Watch says that "l & # 39; Cambodia's civil and political rights environment "has been" significantly deteriorated "since the beginning of 2017. The group claims that the regime has been engaged in" arbitrary arrests and other "
Kem Monovithya and other exiled members of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, banned. keep the party alive from abroad. They are trying to convince the United States, the European Union and others to place an embargo on international travel by senior Cambodian officials, but avoid a general economic embargo that would hurt average Cambodians.
They are also asking voters to boycott this month's elections, In Cambodia, voters must dip their fingers in the ink after voting.
A spokesman for Hun Sen's ruling party told Agence France-Presse that boycott supporters Kem Monovithya and other exiles traveled across the United States and Europe , in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere to spread their message, speaking with diplomats, lawmakers, the media and Cambodians living abroad.
While they advocate change by far, Cambodian political exiles are also struggling with a sense of loss and disappearance.
"My family, I miss my children," said Sia Phearum, a Cambodian land rights activist who fled the country to the United States at the end of 2017, leaving behind her wife and three children aged 5 to 11 years. the pain is beyond words. "
Kem Monovithya told the AP that his exile is" a test of my strength and stamina. I am almost homeless. She stays with friends and she does not know where she will be from week to week. "I go where my plea takes me," she said.
One month after arresting his father, one of his deputy chiefs, Mu Sochua, was warned by two government officials that she was also going to be arrested. Mu Sochua, 64, said she wanted to stay, but her children convinced her that she should leave the country and work overseas for democracy in Cambodia.
At the end of May, Mu Sochua and Kem Monovithya traveled to Norway to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum, a rally of human rights and democracy advocates.
In a speech at the forum, Mu Sochua urged the international community to impose sanctions "on those who engage in oppression" in Cambodia. "The democracies of the world should not recognize a government born of an illegitimate election," she said.
The United States expressed "serious concern" about the actions of the Cambodian government and wondered whether this month's elections would be free and fair. In March, Trump White House said it was withholding $ 8.3 million from the Cambodian government as part of an effort to "ensure that US taxpayer funds are not not used to support undemocratic behavior ". Germany has limited travel visas for Cambodian government officials.
Japan continued to provide funds to help underwrite general elections. Cambodian authorities say opposition leaders, community activists and journalists are working with the United States and other "superpowers" to overthrow the government. Hun Sen and other government officials use the term "color revolution" to describe these efforts.
"All armed forces are obliged to make sure that Cambodia is free of color revolts," Hun Sen wrote in a Facebook post in 2016. "Such a revolution will harm the happiness and peace of the people. People in Cambodia.The Armed Forces Must Protect the Legitimate Government. "
-" AUTHORITY OF THE STATE & # 39;
Despite the cooling of its relations with the United States, the Cambodian government cited Donald Trump's attacks against what he calls "fake media". "President Donald Trump thinks the news reported by these organizations do not reflect the truth, which is the responsibility of professional journalists, "said a spokesman for the Cambodian government in a statement. after the inauguration of Trump. "This means that freedom of expression must respect the law and the authority of the state."
In September, Cambodian Daily, an English-language newspaper known for its aggressive reporting on corruption and abuse of power, announced that it had been forced to shut down as a result of what it has said were "extra-legal threats" and a fake government tax bill.
The last page of the newspaper included the title "Descent Into Strictly Dictatorship" – and the news that Kem Monovithya's father, Kem Sokha, had been arrested and accused of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the Hun Sen's government. Hun Sen publicly called Kem Sokha a "foreign puppet."
In May, the Phnom Penh Post, which was considered the last independent daily in Cambodia, was bought by a businessman who is head of the leadership of a public relations firm for the Hun Sen government. After the sale, several senior journalists of the newspaper were dismissed or resigned.
The government also closed about 20 radio channels and arrested two former reporters with US-backed Radio Free Asia The journalists, Uon Chhin and Yeang Southearin, were first charged with running an "unlicensed karaoke studio", but were later charged with charges of "unlicensed karaoke studio". providing a "foreign state with information that undermines national defense"
has suffered genocide, civil war and oppression over the past half-century.More than 2 million Cambodians have died in the "Killing Fields" operated by the Khmer Rouge, the communist regime that controlled the country from 1975 to 1979. Hun Sen came to power as prime minister of Cambodia in 1985, but violence between rival factions continued until 39. to the peace agreement. was signed in Paris in 1991.
Over the last decade or more, citizens' protests have proliferated over land rights, widespread logging in Cambodia's forests and working conditions in the surrounding areas. garment factories in the country. In response, the government has arrested dozens of protest leaders, condemning some in court proceedings that Human Rights Watch has stated "not to abide by the most rudimentary standards of fair trial."
Sia Phearum, land rights activist, said: And the rich "take advantage of land development and land grabbing while the poor receive little compensation for their losses."
"The government and companies do business together, "he said. "When you hear about a developing place, there will be tears and suffering."
– "TIGERS AND SNAKES"
Some observers point to the regime's increased efforts to reduce dissent in the badbadination of Kem Ley, political commentator and critic of the regime. He was shot dead in Phnom Penh in 2016 – two days after speaking on the radio about a report by the Global Witness monitoring group examining the wealth accumulated by the Hun Sen family.
His death was widely regarded as politically motivated murder. Crowds of people took to the streets to join his funeral procession. Opposition politicians think that the participation surprised the government.
Kem Ley's widow, Bou Rachana, has never been involved in politics, but since the murder of her husband, she has been talking about the political and social problems of her country. She left Cambodia and got asylum in Australia earlier this year.
"I could not live in a country full of tigers and snakes," she told AP. June 2017 further heightened fears within the ruling party that he was in danger of losing his grip on power. The National Rescue Party of Cambodia won nearly 44 percent of the seats, while the ruling party won less than 51 percent
. The government arrested Kem Monovithya's father three months later. Then, in November, the country's Supreme Court upheld the government's request to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party. The ruling banned more than 100 senior party officials from getting involved in politics for five years.
"We lost everything. We no longer have the holiday, "said Kem Monovithya." Our country is in darkness. "
She spent most of her time in Washington, DC, since the arrest of her father, she collapses in tears, she says, every time other emigrants question her
.In 1993, she embarks on politics as a woman. teenager in the first national elections, traveled with her father, who won a seat in the legislature, spoke to the electorate individually and distributed flyers describing her platform.
"We all saw this as the the beginning of many great things to come, "she said." People believed in the process, because it was administered by the UN. "
Hun Sen's political rivals won the vote, but he refused to give up power.He and his opponents agreed to a sharing arrangement power, but Hun Sen regained full power in a military coup in 1997.
Kem Monovithya then worked for UN agencies and human rights groups in Cambodia and at the Bank's headquarters World. Washington
Her father was arrested by the government for the first time in 2006. At that time, she was on a plane to the United States to drop her younger sister in college. She led an effort that helped liberate her father and other political prisoners.
This first time, he was arrested, she said, he was allowed to receive visitors. At the time, she said, the influence of the United States and other Western donors helped to soften the government's stance against critics. Now, as China has increased its investment and influence, the Cambodian government is less concerned about international opinion, she said.
This time, she says, no one is allowed to go to jail to see him. She is worried because her father, aged 65, has health problems that could be aggravated by incarceration.
She does not know when she can see him or go back to Cambodia. But she said that she would find a way.
"I have to go home and I will not give up the fight," she said. "It is our country, we can not allow a small group of people to expel us forever from the country."
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