PHNOM PENH, (SONNA) — A court in Cambodia convicted opposition leader Kem Sokha of treason on Friday and sentenced him to 27 years of house arrest, the latest blow in a campaign by the government to silence its critics or drive them out of the country.
The ruling against the country’s most prominent opposition politician not in exile, widely condemned by rights groups and foreign governments, comes just four months ahead of a general election. Kem Sokha’s September 2017 arrest marked the beginning of a fierce campaign by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to use the courts — widely considered to be under its influence — in a crackdown on dissent. Since then, most other top government critics have fled Cambodia to escape what were generally seen as politically inspired prosecutions.
Kem Sokha’s Cambodia National Rescue Party was seen as an electoral threat to Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2017, and his arrest came about 10 months before the country’s last general election. The Supreme Court dissolved the party soon after and its members were expelled from Parliament.
JUDGE SAYS OPPOSITION LEADER PLOTTED “COLOR REVOLUTION”
The government charged that an old video of Kem Sokha speaking at a seminar about receiving advice from U.S. pro-democracy groups was proof of collusion with a foreign power to illegally take power.
Judge Koy Sao of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said Kem Sokha, backed by foreign powers, had used human rights and politics as a guise to organize people to stage a “color revolution” aimed at toppling the legal government. The maximum sentence is 30 years.
The court said Kem Sokha is barred from all political activity, including voting, and not allowed to meet with anyone, Cambodian or foreign, except for family members. He may leave the house only with the court’s permission.
His lawyer, Ang Udom, told reporters he will file an appeal within one month.
RIGHTS GROUPS, U.S., CONDEMN VERDICT
Rights organizations decried Friday’s court ruling.
“It was obvious from the start that the charges against Kem Sokha were nothing but a politically motivated ploy by Prime Minister Hun Sen to sideline Cambodia’s major opposition leader and eliminate the country’s democratic system,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Sending Kem Sokha to prison isn’t just about destroying his political party, but about squashing any hope that there can be a genuine general election in July.”
