AFP
Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday announced that the trial of opposition leader Kem Sokha will begin on Jan. 15, some 16 months after he was arrested on charges of treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.
”The accused, Kem Sokha, with criminal case file #4777 for treason charges in accordance with Article 443 of the Criminal Code, will be tried on Jan. 15, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. in hearing room #1 of the Phnom Penh Trial Court,” the court said in a press release.
Kem Sokha, the former president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested in September 2017 and charged with treason over a video recorded four year earlier in which he discusses a strategy to win power at the ballot box with the help of U.S. experts. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
Two months after Kem Sokha’s arrest, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP for its role in the alleged plot and banned 118 of its officials from political activities.
The moves were part of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in the country’s July 2018 general election.
Speaking to RFA’s Khmer Service on Monday, Kem Sokha’s legal team said they were disappointed by the court’s decision to proceed with his trial, despite having formally appealed to Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigative Judge Khy Rithy last month to “drop all charges” against him, citing a lack of evidence.
“We saw the court order to send Kem Sokha to trial on Jan. 15, but our legal team has not [formally] received it yet,” lawyer Pheng Heng said.
“[We know that] they initiated another case file [splitting off from Sokha’s main case] to investigate other parties who may want to get involved in the case. This makes us wonder why they are sending him to trial while the investigation is still incomplete.”
Last week, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ruled that an investigation into Kem Sokha had found sufficient evidence to send his case to trial.
House arrest terms
Kem Sokha has maintained his innocence since his arrest, which saw him spend more than a year in pre-trial detention before he was moved to strict house arrest.
On Nov. 10, authorities announced that Kem Sokha, 66, who since late 2018 had been allowed only monitored meetings with his family and lawyers in the confines of his housing compound, was free to leave his house, but was not allowed to travel outside Cambodia or take part in political activities.
The announcement of Kem Sokha’s trial date came on the same day that Cambodia’s Appeal Court dismissed his legal team’s request that his judicial supervision requirements be dropped so that he can travel outside of the country and “for the sake of his health.”
Under the current court mandate, Kem Sokha must appear before authorities whenever he is summoned.
Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
