Thirty-three civil society groups yesterday issued a joint statement criticising restrictions placed on medical care available to three of the jailed “Adhoc 5”, saying doctors from Licadho had been prevented from visiting them since April and that their illnesses had grown worse in that time.

Yesterday marked day 426 of their detention without trial, and the statement, signed by groups including Licadho, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, said the doctors had only in the last two weeks been given sporadic access to the workers at Prey Sar prison.

The three Adhoc staffers – Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda and Yi Soksan – are in Prey Sar’s CC1 centre. The other Adhoc staffer, Lim Mony, is in its CC2 centre. The fifth, Ny Chakrya, a former Adhoc staffer turned elections official, is in the PJ prison. Both Mony and Chakrya have received care.

The joint statement alleges that the lack of medical access to the three human rights staffers in CC1 exacerbated their existing medical conditions. Last week, it even led Ny Sokha to faint in a bathroom in the prison, he said.

“At the very least, Cambodian authorities must now take these serious health concerns into account and stop prolonging their baseless pre-trial detention through denial of bail,” the joint statement quotes Licadho Naly Pilorge, the deputy director for advocacy at Licadho, as saying.

Prisons Department spokesman Sorn Keo said there were adequate facilities in CC1 to treat the detainees.