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Another Cambodian opposition leader faces Hun Sen’s wrath

Thach Setha, vice-president of the Candlelight Party becomes latest politician charged with embezzlement
Thach Setha speaks to protesters during a protest in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh in this Oct. 4, 2014 photo

Thach Setha speaks to protesters during a protest in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh in this Oct. 4, 2014 photo. (Photo: AFP)

Published: January 17, 2023 05:39 AM GMT
Updated: January 17, 2023 06:24 AM GMT

The Cambodian government has targeted another opposition leader ahead of the polls in July this year.

The latest to fall victim is Thach Setha, vice-president of the Candlelight Party (CP). He is the third senior opposition leader charged with embezzlement in recent weeks. 

Setha was arrested and then detained at Prey Sar prison on Jan. 16 after an arrest warrant was issued by Tith Dalin, Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s investigating judge.

Local media quoting Phnom Penh police spokesman San Sok Seyha said Setha was arrested for issuing a bad check. If found guilty, Setha will face a jail term of between one and five years.

Setha, a former lawmaker from the Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), joined the CP in 2021 ahead of the June 5 commune council polls in 2022.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the arrest was made after Setha wrote a dud check and failed to appear before an investigating judge on Feb. 28 and June 22 last year following a court order.

Setha was among 118 opposition members banned from political activity for five years when the CNRP was outlawed in November 2017 for “attempting to overthrow the government through a color revolution.”

He was granted a royal pardon in April 2021 and joined the CP, which emerged from the remnants of the CNRP as the strongest challenge to the long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) ahead of the national polls.

Last month, the CPP successfully sued Son Chhay, another CP vice-president, for US$1 million and seized his two properties after he criticized the results of the commune elections in which CP secured a nearly 22 percent vote share.

Then Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the longest-serving leaders in the world, launched a $500,000 libel suit against Kong Korm, a senior CP advisor, which was complicated by a row over the ownership of his family home with the government claiming the property belonged to the Foreign Ministry.

The case was dropped on Jan. 13 after Korm agreed to hand back the property.

The CPP is expected to emerge winner in the July polls amid a lack of competition from other political parties.

Hundreds of opposition party members have been rounded-up, jailed and fined after Hun Sen alleged the CNRP, led by Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, had attempted to overthrow his government.

Human rights groups have accused the Hun Sen government of initiating a crackdown on opposition party members and using the courts to silence all political opposition.

“Draconian laws, extrajudicial killings, violent attacks, and politically motivated prosecutions, including mass trials against over 100 political opposition members and dozens of human rights defenders, perpetuate autocratic rule and silence dissent,” Human Rights Watch said recently.

The World Justice Project 2022 Rule of Law Index ranks Southeast Asian nation Cambodia’s judiciary at 139 out of 140 countries, just one place behind the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and one place above Venezuela, headed by Nicolas Maduro who has ruled the oil-rich South American nation by decree since 2015.

However, the Justice Ministry has rejected the report, saying it was politically motivated as Cambodia is all set to hold the national elections.

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