THE head of the Human Rights Party has denied that a man arrested on suspicion of sending threatening text messages is affiliated with his party, despite claims from the target of the threat that the man identified himself as an HRP activist.

“The man who was arrested by Ministry of Interior police accused of sending death threats by text message does not have his name on my list of activists,” HRP President Kem Sokha said Tuesday.

“If one of my party’s activists did what the authorities have said, they could punish them according to the law, but we have never told our activists to threaten or mistreat people.”

Nheak Vannara, the government adviser who was thought to be the target of the message, said he received two English messages from the man on Sunday evening, threatening he would be “the 90th to be killed”. Earlier, he said the message had identified the sender as an HRP member.

Despite his rumoured connection to the HRP, Yem Ponhearith, an HRP parliamentarian, called on the authorities to conduct a balanced investigation to determine the facts of the case.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said he did not yet know the details of the case.