Ms. Kem Monovithya, eldest daughter of the jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha, wrote on Facebook on Friday saying that she has been filing a complaint on Wednesday to the UN about her father's detention. To her, the detention is arbitrary.
In a video clip posted on her father's Facebook page, she said that she had hired a group of international lawyers to file the complaint to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The lawyers told her on Thursday that the WGAD has accepted her complaint for further international legal measures.
"In the name of his [Mr. Sokha] family, we has been hiring a group of international lawyers who filed the complaint on Wednesday. And yesterday, we were informed that they [WGAD] have accepted our complaint," said Ms. Monovithya.
She added that for the next step, the WGAD would review the complaint and contact the Cambodian authority or the Cambodian government for example, to get more information. The WGAD could also send a group of experts to carry out an investigation in Cambodia.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was created by the former Commission on Human Rights with an objective to investigate complaints about arbitrary detention being contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or to other international laws ratified by counties concered.
To some extent, with the «INVITATION» or green light from the government accused for arbitrary detention, the WGAD could conduct an investigation in that country.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: - Article 9
1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.
2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.
3. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the judgement.
4. Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that that court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful.
5. Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation.
Mr. Kem Sokha, former president of the opposition party CNRP, was arrested in September around midnight at his house in Phnom Penh. He is accused by Prime Minister Hun Sen for high treason following Mr. Sokha's speech in a video clip posted on the Internet.
Concerning this issue, the US and the EU have considered the arrest as illegal - they repeatedly asked the Cambodian government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, to immediately release Mr. Sokha from custody.
On the contrary, the Cambodian government always said that Mr. Sokha had committed an actual crime or «In Flagrante Delicto.» As a result, to the Cambodian government, the arrest was only a kind of law enforcement.
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