A Cambodian court on Friday sentenced opposition leader Kem Sokha to 27 years in house arrest for treason in a case that human rights groups say was politically motivated.
“Kem Sokha (…) has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for conspiring with foreigners in Cambodia and elsewhere,” Judge Koy Sao told a court in Phnom Penh.
Kem Sokha, 69, an opposition figure and co-founder of the now-disbanded National Rescue Party of Cambodia (PSNC), has always disputed the allegations.
The politician was immediately taken home from the courthouse, where he remains under house arrest and is not allowed to meet anyone except relatives.
Kem Sohka is also not allowed to vote or run for political office.
The conviction of the activist is a miscarriage of justice, the US ambassador to Cambodia said.
The trial was based on a “manufactured conspiracy,” W. Patrick Murphy told reporters outside the Phnom Penh courthouse.
Kem Sohka was arrested in September 2017 and charged with attempting to overthrow Hun Sen’s government, which has been in power since 1985.
Critics say Hun Sen has rolled back democratic freedoms in the country and used the courts to crack down on opponents, detain activists and human rights defenders.
In October 2022, Sam Rainsy, Cambodia’s historic opposition leader and co-founder of the PSNC, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment, a symbolic punishment as the activist is prohibited from returning to the country.
Rainsy was found guilty of attempting to transfer “all or part of the territory” of Cambodia to a foreign state.
Source: DN
