Cambodian opposition leader of the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Kem Sokha has been sentenced to 27 years in detention, on Friday (March 3). This comes after he was arrested in 2017 and found guilty after a three-year trial which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the time asked for by the government lawyers to find new evidence against the alleged crimes committed by the politician, reported Al Jazeera.
Kem Sokha was arrested nearly six years ago over accusations of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the government of the incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for at least four decades now.
“Kem Sokha…is sentenced to 27 years in detention on the charge of collusion with foreigners committed in Cambodia and other places,” said Judge Koy Sao. The judge at a municipal court in the capital city of Phnom Penh also barred the opposition figure from running for political office or voting in elections. This comes ahead of Cambodia’s elections which will be held in July.
According to reports, Kem Sokha was arrested in September 2017 in a midnight raid on his home without a warrant. Two months after his arrest, in 2018, CNPR was disbanded while the allegations against the opposition figure have since been denied by him as well as Washington and called the allegations “fabricated conspiracy theories”.
Following the verdict, the 69-year-old was taken to his where he will be placed under house arrest and only allowed to meet family members, as per media reports. Meanwhile, his lawyer, Ang Udom, said his legal team would appeal the verdict
Speaking to the press outside the court, the US Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy slammed the verdict and called it a “miscarriage of justice”. He added, “We call on authorities to allow all Cambodians to enjoy…universal human rights of peaceful assembly and free expression and to participate in building a truly democratic system.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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