Activists Protest at Cambodian Embassy for Disappeared Critic

Activists in front of the Cambodian Embassy on June 15, 2020.

BANGKOK — Pro-democracy activists held a protest at the Cambodian Embassy to demand Cambodian’s assistance in finding a Thai fugitive activist who was kidnapped there nearly two weeks ago.

At a rally attended by around 30 activists, a protest leader said the Cambodian government has the obligation to find missing activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit and other exiled dissidents who disappeared while hiding in Cambodia. 

“When Prayut Chan-ocha’s administration uses the law to block us off, the more he does that, the more evidence that the Thai government is participating in enforced disappearances,” activist Somyot Prueksakasemsuk said. 

“The more he uses the law to harass us and restricts our rights, the more this shows that the Prayut administration is made of crooks and bandits that kill their citizens, especially refugees,” he said. 

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The activists also demanded action over other activists who fled to Laos or Cambodia and ended up disappeared or killed, as well as physical assaults against campaigners in Thailand. 

If Wanchalearm is already dead, his body should be returned to Thailand so his family can perform funerary rites, the protesters’ statement said. The activists also said Cambodia should allow sanctuary for political exiles from Thailand.

Overseeing the protest were 100 police led by Col. Pongjak Jaksurak of Wang Thong Lang police.

The United Nations also sent a letter urging Cambodian authorities to locate Wanchalerm on Wednesday, with a time limit to reply within two weeks. 

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