Day: January 14, 2022

The trial on treason charges of Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha will go ahead as scheduled on Jan. 19, with the government refusing to interfere, a government spokesman said on Friday.

Options for Kem Sokha’s release can be considered once the trial ends, however, spokesman Phay Siphan told RFA. “In Cambodia, we can have political solutions only after the cases in court conclude.”

When Kem Sokha’s trial ends, Prime Minister Hun Sen can request amnesty from Cambodia’s king if he doesn’t think the release of the former opposition leader will harm national security and public order,  Phay Siphan said.

Kem Sokha’s lawyers were not available for comment Friday but have previously said they want to see all charges dropped against him.

Kem Sokha, then president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested in September 2017 over an alleged plot backed by the United States to overthrow the government of Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years.

Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP two months later in a move that allowed Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party to win all 125 seats in Parliament in a July 2018 election and drew U.S. sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union.

Speaking to RFA, political analyst Seng Sary said that several options now exist for the government to free Kem Sokha when his trial ends. “The court can acquit him of his charges and then politically rehabilitate him, or the court can convict him and then release him on Hun Sen’s request,” he said.

Scores of CNRP members and supporters have been incarcerated on charges widely regarded as politically motivated and are caught in a tortuous legal process made slower by COVID-19 restrictions in the country.

On Friday, a court in central Cambodia’s Tboung Khmum province released two CNRP activists after they had served one-year prison terms on charges of “incitement.” Following their release, Mak Sam An and Prau Chan Thoeun told RFA they were arrested on Jan. 14, 2021,  after monitoring the trial of other CNRP activists in Municipal Court in the capital Phnom Penh.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I just went to listen to the hearing, but they arrested me anyway. The authorities violated my freedom. I can’t accept this,” Mak Sam Ath said.

Am Sam Ath of the Cambodia-based rights group Licadho said the two CNRP members had simply exercised their rights and were unjustly convicted.

“We urge the authorities and the courts to respect people’s freedoms and implement the laws correctly instead of just charging them however they like. If they don’t, the people will criticize the authorities for carrying out politically motivated arrests,” he said.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Myanmar’s junta on Friday leveled five new corruption charges against deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party chief Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a source close to the secret court where she is being tried, bringing the total number of crimes she stands accused of to 16.

The charges, which were also brought against former President Win Myint, are related to the purchase and use of helicopters from the National Disaster Management Fund to carry out disaster prevention activities under the NLD government, the source from the court in the capital Naypyidaw told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team applied to represent her against the new charges on Friday and was told by the court that it would review the request on Jan. 21.

During Friday’s hearing, the court heard the testimony of Khin Mar Cho, the auditor general of Yangon region, who was presented by junta prosecutors to speak about the corruption charges.

Earlier this week, the court sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison for the illegal possession of walkie-talkies and breaking COVID-19 rules, raising to six years the jail time imposed on her in closed-door proceedings.

On Dec. 6 Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint received two years for incitement against the military and two years for violating coronavirus restrictions, which junta chief Min Aung Hlaing reduced to two years of house arrest.

The former state counselor’s lawyers have been barred since October by Myanmar’s military rulers from releasing information or speaking publicly about the two cases being tried.

She has rejected all allegations, which her supporters, rights groups and foreign governments have condemned as political.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint were arrested by the military shortly after its Feb. 1, 2021, coup, which brought down the NLD government.

The junta says voter fraud led to the NLD’s landslide victory in the country’s November 2020 election but has yet to provide evidence for its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide protests calling for a return to civilian rule, killing 1,469 people and arresting more than 8,600 in the 11 months since, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

In addition to the 16 charges Aung San Suu Kyi faces, the junta has announced plans to sue her for allegedly fixing the ballot in the general election. If she receives the maximum punishment for each of the charges, she will have to serve more than 160 years in prison.

A pretext for removal 

Observers told RFA that the new charges are part of a bid by the junta to remove Aung San Suu Kyi from the country’s political arena.

Min Lwin Oo, a Norway-based human rights attorney, said a helicopter is a necessary asset for any leader who hopes to manager their country’s natural disasters.

“Without that helicopter, she might need to request that the Air Force provide her with transportation,” he said. “I don’t think it is the good reason to file the charges against her. It’s a pretext to exclude her from politics permanently.”

Tint Swe, a former colleague of Aung San Suu Kyi’s who took part in the country’s 1990 election and now lives in the U.S., called the new charges “part of the scheme the military regime has been using to bump up sentences.

“I see these charges as a pretext by the military regime to remove her from politics and prevent her from becoming an elected official, once and for all,” he said.

“Judging from their actions, we cannot trust their pledge to return to the democracy [through new elections]. I think they are increasing the charges as international pressure mounts to show that they are not bothered by it.”

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the accusations formed part of a trend of “bogus charges” against Aung San Suu Kyi, “all with the intent purpose of prosecuting her and making sure that she is never free to contest the power of the military regime.”

“They see it as a justification for their coup. They’re using this as an example of why they had to get rid of her and so from their perspective the more charges the better,” he said.

“But you know, she’s already 76. If they give her 10 years or they give her 100 years of time in detention, it’s still going to be the same result because she’s not going to be able to be freed again and certainly not going to be able to assume her position as the elected leader of Myanmar.”

Reported and translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

A court in Vietnam Friday sentenced a former police captain to two years in prison for “resisting law enforcement,” after he argued with police when they towed his car, his lawyer told RFA.

Police in the southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh city impounded former Capt. Le Chi Thanh’s car on April 14, 2021, for occupying a lane reserved for two-wheeled vehicles. After words were exchanged, the police arrested him.

“In my opinion that is a really harsh sentence,” his lawyer Dang Dinh Manh told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“His actions were not exactly resisting against the police officers. The police were going to tow his car to the station, and he merely made suggestions and proposals to protect the condition of the car and keep it safe. So the charge is unjustifiable,” Manh said.

Le Chi Thanh had been an officer at Han Tan Prison in the southern coastal province of Binh Thuan. He was fired in July 2020 for accusing his supervisor of corruption. Afterwards he became an active social media user, often livestreaming videos that monitored traffic police.

While Thanh was detained, he told his lawyer that he was being tortured.

“They said that he did not address the guards appropriately and tried to harm himself, so they had to ‘put him by himself,’” Manh said.

Thanh is now facing another charge of “abusing democracy and freedom to infringe on State interests” under article 331 of Vietnam’s penal code. Human rights activists say that section of the law is often used by authorities to stifle dissent.

Translated by An Nguyen. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

North Korean workers dispatched to China to earn cash for Pyongyang are struggling to make ends meet, with coronavirus lockdowns crimping the job market, sources in China told RFA.

Cash-strapped North Korea sends workers to countries like China and Russia to earn foreign currency for the ruling party. The companies that employ them pay much higher salaries than what they could ever hope to earn in North Korea, but their North Korean handlers collect the lion’s share, leaving them with only a fraction.

Under normal circumstances, Pyongyang can earn a lot of money this way. But renewed coronavirus lockdowns in the Chinese border city of Dandong, across the Yalu River border from North Korea’s Sinuiju, mean there are many North Korean employees in the city and very little work.

“These days, just as in large cities like Xi’an, confirmed coronavirus cases are spiking in the Dandong area, causing a major setback in the production and distribution of products,” a Chinese citizen of Korean descent told RFA’s Korean Service Jan. 9.

Xi’an, a city of 13 million people in central China, began a lockdown last month as part of a “Zero-COVID” policy. Other cities, including Dandong, have also begun similar lockdowns.

“Food processing, garment, and electronics factories, where many of the North Koreans work, have been shut down since early December. The North Korean workers have been hit hard,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

“These days, the North Koreans here in Dandong can’t even make enough money for their housing, to say nothing of earning foreign currency,” the source said.

The lockdown is also hurting some Chinese business owners. Sometimes the businesses agree to provide food and lodging.

“They used to make a lot of money by hiring the North Koreans for peanuts, but now they have to pay for the lodging and meals for these workers even as their factories are shutting down,” the source said.

Sometimes it’s the North Korean company that manages the workers that takes the hit.

“I know a guy who manages the North Korean workers. He’s visiting his Chinese counterparts these days, begging them to offer some work. He says their housing and food is not guaranteed and they need money. He even promised they would work for minimum wage, if they give the workers a job, any job at all,” the source said.

Under normal circumstances, the North Koreans in China have higher standards of living than they do back home, the source said.

“They eat much better compared to their home country. They can eat not only rice, but meat, fish, eggs, and all kinds of vegetables. But now since they are not earning money, the quality of their meals has greatly declined,” said the source.

“The Chinese authorities, ahead of the Winter Olympics in early February, have ordered strong quarantine policies. They are shutting down cities limiting movement. This is why the small factories near the border with North Korea are not all in operation.”

Another Chinese citizen of Korean descent told RFA that North Korean workers used to eat well in cafeterias of the factories where they work. But now “all they get are pieces of bread in the morning and cabbage soup with rice for lunch and dinner,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

“These workers leave their homeland and their families behind to work abroad. The one good thing they have is that they can eat better over here. But not these days because they aren’t able to work,” the second source said.

In cases where the North Korean human resources company is responsible for housing and feeding the workers, the managers have to cut costs by giving them food of lesser quality.

There are an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 North Koreans working in China according to the U.S. State Department’s 2021 Trafficking in Person’s Report.

RFA previously reported that North Korean workers earn approximately U.S. $400, of which only US$100 is paid to individuals, and the rest is deducted sent back to North Korean authorities.

North Korean labor exports were supposed to have stopped when United Nations nuclear sanctions froze the issuance of work visas and mandated the repatriation of North Korean nationals working abroad by the end of 2019.

But Pyongyang sometimes dispatches workers to China and Russia on short-term student or visitor visas to get around sanctions.

Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Rights groups and a former United Nations official issued a final plea for the international community to use the approaching Winter Olympics in Beijing to pressure China to improve its human rights record, amid widespread persecution of Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers and other groups.

Thousands of athletes, officials and diplomats from around the world will attend the games, which run Feb. 4-20.

London-based Amnesty International said Friday that countries sending delegations to Beijing must use the Olympics, as well as the Paralympics on March 4-13, to demand that China treat minority groups better.

“The Beijing Winter Olympics must not be allowed to pass as a mere sportswashing opportunity for the Chinese authorities, and the international community must not become complicit in a propaganda exercise,” Alkan Akad, Amnesty’s China researcher, said in a statement.

“The games should not be used as a distraction from China’s appalling human rights record. On the contrary, they should be an opportunity to press China to address these issues,” Akad said.

The Chinese government had pledged to respect media freedom, labor rights and peaceful demonstrations during the Olympics. But there is no evidence that it has followed through, Amnesty said.

“The right to freedom of expression is systematically violated in China. That’s why it’s vital that the [International Olympic Committee] and the various National Olympic Committees at the Games adequately respect athletes’ and sports officials’ wishes to speak out about human rights, including on issues deemed ‘sensitive’ by the authorities,” Akad said.

His group called for the release of five detained Chinese activists: Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, labor rights activist Li Qiaochu, human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, and Tibetan blogger Rinchen Tsultrim.

“If the Chinese government wants to use the Olympics as a showcase for the country, it should start by releasing all those who have been prosecuted or detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights,” Akad said.

A coalition of more than 250 civil society groups representing Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hongkongers, Chinese, Southern Mongolians, Taiwanese and other communities sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, asking him not to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The U.N., the United States, and the legislatures of several Western countries have declared that China’s systematic repression of the 12 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities who live in Xinjiang constitutes genocide and crimes and humanity.

“It’s not only shocking that the secretary-general is willing to attend Beijing 2022 when there is a genocide being carried out against Uyghurs and other Muslims, but also incompatible with the U.N.’s core principles,” Zumretay Arkin, program and advocacy manager at the World Uyghur Congress, said in a statement.

“His appearance at the Winter Olympics will not only be a kick in the teeth for all human rights defenders living under China’s rule but will undermine the highly respected fora of the United Nations,” she said.

Several countries, including the U.S., have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Olympics.

Kelley Currie, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues and the U.S. representative at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, told RFA that corporate sponsors of the Olympic Games and the IOC have made an exception for China in not pressing the country to address rights issues.

“They talk about women’s rights and gender issues and other human rights issues,” she said. “They have all of these principles that are on their website, but when it comes to China it’s just they have an exception for China. And it’s the same with these companies.”

“It’s even more disturbing that they are being so deferential and so quiet when it comes to China and not saying anything, and so I think that they’re pretending like they have no responsibility,” Currie said. “They have a responsibility.”

Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Authorities in western China’s Sichuan province last year seized a life-size statue of a revered Tibetan religious leader that was being taken into Tibet and arrested those involved in the statue’s manufacture and transport, RFA has learned.

The statue of Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who died in 2015 in a Chinese prison under mysterious circumstances, was commissioned by the late monk’s students and was built by artists in Shenzhen, China, said Tenzin Yarphel, one of Tenzin Delek’s students now living in Europe.

“The initial plan was to bring Rinpoche’s statue to India, but there were too many restrictions against sending it there, so it had to be brought to Tibet and hidden away until the right opportunity to move it arose,” Yarphel said.

Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s statue was seized in June 2021 by police in Dartsedo in Sichuan’s Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture while being taken to Lithang, the religious leader’s home county, Yarphel said.

A Tibetan man named Kalsang Tsering who had arranged to pick up the statue and bring it to Lithang was then taken into custody along with an assistant, Yarphel said.

“There was no information about their whereabouts or well-being for a long time, so Tibetans living in the region began to distribute flyers asking for information about them. However, the Chinese police later said that both were in their custody.”

The two men were interrogated and beaten for about 20 days and ordered to avoid any contact with Rinpoche’s family in Lithang, Yarphel said. “And they were forced to promise not to involve themselves with any activity like this again in the future.”

Another Tibetan and a Chinese man who had brought the statue to Dartsedo were also taken into custody and held for almost 20 days, Yarphel said. “And Chinese authorities also arrested the Tibetan man who had first arranged for the statue’s construction in Shenzhen, releasing him after almost a month.”

Police in Lithang later stormed the house of Rinpoche’s younger sister Dolkar Lhamo, said a source living in Tibet.

“About 20 Public Security Bureau officers came in September to ransack the family shrine,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They took away all the photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other relics. They even took away a picture of Nyima Lhamo, Rinpoche’s niece who now lives in New York,” he said.

Dolkar Lhamo and two other family members were then detained for about 18 days and were beaten and tortured under questioning about the statue before being released, he said.

Family threatened by police

Nyima Lhamo told RFA that she is now unable to contact her family in Lithang.

“During my last conversation with my mother, Dolkar Lhamo, she asked me not to get in touch with her anymore as she had been threatened with severe consequences by the Chinese police if she talked with me,” she said.

“I would like to ask all human rights defenders and the U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues to take up my family’s case with the Chinese authorities to safeguard their freedom of movement and freedom of speech.

“I would especially like to request the U.S. special coordinator to help my mother visit me here so she can get proper medical treatment in the United States,” she said.

Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 65, died in prison in Sichuan on July 12, 2015, 13 years into a 22-year sentence following what rights groups and supporters called a wrongful conviction on a charge of bombing a public square in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu in April 2002.

Widely respected among Tibetans for his efforts to protect Tibetan culture and the environment, he was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. An assistant, Lobsang Dondrub, was executed almost immediately, prompting an outcry from rights activists who questioned the fairness of the trial.

Chinese authorities are now banning public discussions of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche seven years after his death, removing him from official religious histories and shutting down an online chat group devoted to his memory, Tibetan sources say.

Translated by Dorjee Damdul and Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.