Cambodia's leader is trying to crush dissent in the poor Southeast Asian nation by filing lawsuits against his critics, a New York-based human rights group said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen must "end the climate of fear that he has created" by ending legal action against those who have opposed his policy to resolve outstanding border disputes with neighboring Vietnam, Human Rights Watch said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Hun Sen has had criminal defamation suits filed on his behalf against at least six people he claims have accused him of "selling" Cambodian land to Vietnam by relinquishing disputed territory.
The border issue is a passionate one for Cambodians. The country used to be an empire before it shrunk to its current size during centuries of war with its larger neighbors, Vietnam and Thailand. Controversy heated up recently when Hun Sen signed a treaty with Vietnam in early October that critics said gives up Cambodian land.
"Legal action should not be used as a tool of repression to silence the political opposition and government critics in Cambodia," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
"Hun Sen needs to accept that in a democracy leaders will be criticized when they make controversial decisions," he said.
The arrests of two men that Hun Sen has filed lawsuits against -- the director of an independent radio station and a union leader -- have led to outrage among local human-rights groups.
Hun Sen has himself repeatedly dismissed charges that he's curtailing democratic freedoms, saying he is seeking justice for himself by challenging his critics' accusation that he has given away Cambodian land.
On Monday, Hun Sen said he was considering suing Sisowath Thomico, retired King Norodom Sihanouk's nephew, but didn't say for what. Thomico has alleged that the prime minister handed over a Cambodian island to Vietnam more than two decades ago.
Khieu Kanharith, the information minister and government spokesman, said he was not certain if a suit has already been filed against Thomico, who he said left Cambodia on a flight to Thailand on Tuesday.
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