A UN human rights expert voiced concern on July 1 regarding “attempts to curtail lawyers’ freedom to effectively represent their clients in Cambodia,” as the UN news center reports. Lawyers in the nation are frequently subject to intimidation, harassment, threat of prosecution and disciplinary action “merely for having acted in the interests of their clients,” as Special Rapporteur on the independence of lawyers and judges Leandro Despouy expressed in a press release.

Despouy is concerned that an alarming new trend is emerging in Cambodia, referencing a recent case in which a lawyer working for Parliamentarian and human rights advocate Mu Sochua was himself charged with criminal defamation, and faces the possibility of being expelled from the Cambodian Bar Association.

The Special Rapporteur advised that measures be taken to protect and preserve the freedoms of those in the legal profession: “I encourage and support the Bar Council and its President in their efforts to strengthen the legal profession in Cambodia and to defend lawyers against attempts to undermine their independence.”

UN rights expert concerned at restriction of lawyers’ freedom in Cambodia-UN News Center

United Nations Press Release