Cambodian Opposition Leader Loses Appeal Against Treason Conviction |
ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia
Cambodian Opposition Leader Loses Appeal Against Treason Conviction
The Phnom Penh Appeals Court upheld Kem Sokha’s 27-year house arrest sentence, while imposing a further five-year travel ban.
Detained Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha at his residence in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 11, 2019.
A Cambodian court yesterday upheld the treason conviction and 27-year prison sentence of opposition leader Kem Sokha, suggesting that the political environment for political dissent in the country remains as inhospitable as ever.
Kem Sokha, 72, the co-founder of the defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), has been held under house arrest since he was convicted of treason in March 2023, after a long spell in pretrial detention.
The Phnom Penh Appeals Court also barred Kem Sokha from leaving the country for five years after the conclusion of his sentence, his lawyer Pheng Heng told reporters.
“The court added an additional five-year ban on Kem Sokha from traveling abroad,” he said, as per a report by the local news outlet KiriPost. “The five-year sentence was imposed at the request of the prosecutor and government lawyers, who sought a heavier sentence and detention.”
Heng expressed disappointment with the court’s decision, but did not say whether his client would appeal to the Supreme Court. “We hope that the government will seek reconciliation involving political actors, activists and human rights defenders whose work serves society, but today’s verdict runs contrary to those expectations for reconciliation,” he said.
Sokha was arrested by members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit late on the evening of September 3, 2017. He was later charged with “conspiracy with a foreign power” under Article 443 of Cambodia’s criminal code. The main piece of evidence presented by government lawyers was a video of a 2013 speech Sokha gave in Australia, in which he discussed the support he received from Western democracy-promotion advocates.
While not unexpected, the verdict has prompted a strong reaction from human rights groups and Western diplomatic missions in Phnom Penh, who described it as disappointing and called for political reform.
The rights group Human Rights Watch........