A former Victorian MP says he has been charged with incitement in his birth country of Cambodia as part of the latest crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights activists in the South East Asian nation.
Hong Lim, who served in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for 22 years, has long been an outspoken critic of the Cambodian government and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
He says a spate of pro-democracy and human rights activists have been arrested in recent months.
“Some people say that they probably just tried to create a big distraction because of their failure in managing COVID-19, the failure of managing the economy,” Mr Lim told SBS News.
The Cambodian government has been widely condemned for the deterioration of democracy and human rights in the country.
“I suspect that I’ve been making them very unhappy because I’ve been campaigning very heavily from Australia about … the systemic corruption, their destruction of the environment, the cutting down of the forest and all that, the list goes on,” Mr Lim said.
Mr Lim said his charge could attract a penalty of up to 10 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia.
Melbourne man Hemara In, the Victorian branch president for opposition party the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), says he’s also facing charges of incitement.
“The reason they summon us is to stop us from going back to Cambodia I think, because a lot of people that appear in the court case are those that are either living in exile overseas here, or just around Cambodia and Thailand,” Mr In said.
Federal Labor MP Julian Hill, who has long campaigned against the Hun Sen government, says Mr In and Mr Lim are among at least three Australians facing charges.
“We’ve heard reports in recent months of some hundreds of people across the world from diaspora communities being charged with trumped-up charges of incitement and authoritarian nonsense, really,” Mr Hill told SBS News.
“Most of the people have not actually set foot in Cambodia for many a year, yet are being charged by the Hun Sen regime with these ridiculous offences as a way of trying to silence dissent.
“It is outrageous that Australian citizens are being charged by this gangster regime and our government is not speaking up loudly against these trumped up, politically motivated charges.”
SBS News has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Cambodian Embassy in Australia for comment.
