Sok Bolima knows she is probably being watched as she walks the streets of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh protesting against her husband’s arrest.
But it won’t stop her.
She has stood outside embassies and court houses every Friday since the arrest, holding signs and chanting for her husband Khim Pheana, who was detained after posting information — including news articles — on Facebook about COVID-19.
He has been accused of treason and incitement by the Government and could face up to 15 to 20 years in jail.
“People follow me. I’m observed every hour and every second of the day,” she told the ABC.
“I say it again and again, I will resist until I die in front of the court.”
Ms Bolima hopes that someone will intervene and help her husband.
“All of my hopes are pinned on the embassies, I can spare no hope for the courts,” she said as she prepared to take her protest to the Australian Embassy and hand in a petition.
“If they want me to go to jail, they can take me.”
Ms Bolima is usually joined by a small group of women, whose husbands have also been arrested in the past few months.
“I am one of 15 wives who must go to protest in front of the court, to make them drop the charges against our husbands,” she told the ABC.
All of the men have been arrested and accused of treason or incitement during the pandemic and are affiliated with an opposition political party — the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) — which has been banned.
Ms Bolima says she has lost everything since her husband’s arrest.
“At this stage, I’ve lost everything — I lost my job, my husband’s in jail,” she said.
“I have nothing left … I lost my property, so now I must fight until I die in front of the court, until my husband is released.
“I will lay down on the ground in front of the court until a solution is found.”
It comes amid concerns of a broader cl