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Activist Monks Flee Cambodia'¯Fearing Arrest, Defrocking

Sun Narin

   PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - Last summer, prominent Cambodian activist monk
   Bor Bet participated in protests triggered by the arrest of labor
   leader Rong Chhun. Now the monk has fled to Thailand with other
   Cambodian dissidents, vowing to return home.

   Like many Cambodian Buddhist monks, Bor Bet has embraced activism,
   working with a loose coalition of movements bedeviling the increasingly
   authoritarian government of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Advocates
   for democracy, labor unions, human rights and the environment, they
   participate in each other's demonstrations.

   When authorities arrested Rong Chhun, a veteran human rights defender,
   July 31 and charged him with "incitement to cause social unrest," he
   was pursuing the case of farmers in Tbong Khmum, a province on the
   Vietnam border, whose land had been seized as part of'¯the official
   demarcation of the border, long a contentious issue.

   The informal alliance of activists, Bor Bet among them, quickly took to
   the streets of'¯Phnom Penh. The protests supporting Rong Chhun were
   deemed illegal by the government which'¯arrested and charged at least
   12 people with'¯"incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest,"
   and "obstructing the authorities."

   Local'¯rights groups contended the charges were part of the
   [1]government's effort to silence dissent.

   Within days, Bor Bet received a letter asking him and other monks at
   the Broyuvong Pagoda in Phnom Penh's Chamkarmon district to attend an
   Aug. 5 meeting with the local monk council, a group the government uses
   to monitor the monks.

   The invitation made'¯Bor Bet suspicious. He knew the monk council in
   the city of Siem Reap had summoned land rights activist monk Luon
   Sovath in June, accusing him of having had intimate relations with four
   women -- a mother and three daughters. According to local police, one
   of the sisters had filed a rape complaint.'¯Another sister, Tim Ratha,
   told VOA Khmer in June: "[2]They wanted to smear the monk."

   Luon Sovath,'¯internationally recognized for his work,'¯fled to
   Thailand, where he wears his robes despite the [3]Cambodian
   government's claim that he has been defrocked. He is now seeking asylum
   in Switzerland, claiming that the rape allegations were little more
   than a government attempt to silence him for his activism with a prison
   sentence.

References

   1. https://www.licadho-cambodia.org/pressrelease.php?perm=464
   2. https://www.voacambodia.com/a/woman-involved-in-alleged-luon-sovath-scandal-denies-posting-videos/5473833.html
   3. https://www.voacambodia.com/a/monk-council-expels-activist-monk-luon-sovath-for-alleged-intimate-relationship/5448949.html#:~:text=Luon%20Sovath%20has%20been%20internationally,Ennals%20Awards%20in%20Geneva%2C%20Switzerland

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