Cambodia wielding 'courts of injustice' ahead of polls

Cambodia's government has ramped up use of the courts to harass political activists and rights defenders ahead of elections, Amnesty International said today, warning the climate of fear was likely to get worse.

Millions of Cambodians will head to the ballot box on Sunday for local polls across more than 1,600 communes -- an early litmus test for next year's crunch general elections.

The impoverished Southeast Asian kingdom has been run for more than 32 years by strongman prime minister Hun Sen, one of the world's longest serving leaders.

But in 2013 his ruling party suffered a surprise setback when the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) made huge gains and nearly won.

Since then the authorities have embarked on what Amnesty described as "a systematic campaign, using the criminal justice system to harass and intimidate" opponents.

In a report titled "Courts of Injustice", the group said at least 27 Cambodian human rights defenders and political activists are currently behind bars on trumped-up charges.

Hundreds of others are subject to criminal proceedings "as part of a concerted attempt" to crush any public criticism.

As a result a large proportion of the political opposition and human rights community "live under the threat of immediate imprisonment", the report said.

Champa Patel, Amnesty's director in the region, said Hun Sen's government has paid "much lip-service" to the judiciary's independence.

"But the evidence reveals a cynical manipulation of the criminal justice system to serve political goals and silence people whose views the government refuses to tolerate," she said.

Sok Eysan, a spokesman for ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), denied the report's allegations and said it was peddling a "Cold War ideology".

Amnesty has always viewed the government as the "enemy", he said.

"They have been attacking us and painting colours on the ruling party since the beginning."

Sunday's election is a bellwether for opposition efforts to unseat Hun Sen after three decades.

Sebastian Strangio, an expert on Cambodian politics, told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)