Ex-CNRP members unable to board flights home

As expected, the planned return of former senior officials of the court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) failed yesterday for the second time, after the airline refused to let them board due to the government refusing to validate their passports or issue them visas. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokesman Sok Eysan said yesterday that the airline company’s refusal to let the ex-opposition board the flights “was to respect the sovereignty of Cambodia”, calling the ex-CNRP an “outlawed rebel group”.

“Not coming to Cambodia was a big fortune. If you arrived in Cambodia, you would have been welcomed with handcuffs,” he said. On Saturday, ex-CNRP vice president Mu Sochua, who is living in the US, attempted to leave Los Angeles unsuccessfully after she was not allowed to board a Singapore Airlines flight to Cambodia as she did not have a visa to enter the Kingdom.

On the same day, another ex-CNRP lawmaker Men Sothavarin attempted to leave France for Cambodia unsuccessfully after he was denied access to a Singapore Airlines flight bound for Singapore. Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy claimed that the head of the Singapore Airlines office at the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport apologised to Sothavarin, saying he was not allowed to board due to the Cambodian government’s refusal to let him enter Cambodia regardless of the transit country.

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