A Cambodian court rejected an appeal by detained opposition leader Kem Sokha, upholding his treason conviction and sentence, his lawyer said.
PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian court rejected an appeal on Thursday by detained opposition leader Kem Sokha against his nearly three-decade sentence for treason, his lawyer said, a conviction rights advocates say is politically motivated.
The 72-year-old politician was convicted for trying to topple the government of long-ruling former prime minister Hun Sen, who is the father of the current leader and remains an influential figure in national politics.
Kem Sokha was sentenced in 2023 to 27 years in prison for treason but was ordered to serve the time under house arrest in the capital Phnom Penh.
The co-founder of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Kem Sokha has repeatedly denied the charge since his 2017 arrest.
The opposition leader asked the Phnom Penh appeals court to drop the charges against him, with his lawyer saying this month that his client was ready for a “political resolution” to end his case.
The appeals court, however, upheld a lower court ruling on Thursday, his lawyer Pheng Heng told reporters.
The judges also added an additional five-year international travel ban to his sentence, Pheng Heng said outside the courthouse.
“The verdict today is contrary to what we expected — that the government would bring about reconciliation and strengthen national unity,” the lawyer said.
He said he would discuss with Kem Sokha whether to appeal further.
Kem Sokha’s appeal proceedings resumed three weeks ago following a more than 18-month delay, according to his lawyers.
‘Bogus prosecution’
United Nations rights experts said in 2023 that his trial appeared to have been “artificially prolonged”.
They said his conviction was “politically motivated” and evidence of a “pattern of the misapplication of laws” to target political rivals.
A lower court earlier stripped Kem Sokha of his political rights and banned him from meeting foreigners or anyone who is not a family member.
Rights advocates say the prosecution of Kem Sokha was designed to bar him and his popular opposition movement from politics, after the party made electoral gains against the entrenched Cambodian People’s Party of Hun Sen.
“The Cambodian government should drop this bogus prosecution of Kem Sokha, immediately release him, and unconditionally restore his political rights,” Bryony Lau of Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Thursday.
Future elections “won’t have any legitimacy so long as the government is using the courts to unjustly punish political opponents”, she added.
Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, stepped down in 2023 and handed power to his eldest son, current leader Hun Manet.
Scores of political opponents have been convicted during Hun Sen’s time in power while CNRP co-founder Sam Rainsy, Hun Sen’s long-time rival, lives in self-exile in France.
Rights groups have long accused Cambodian authorities of using legal cases as a tactic to silence opposition voices and legitimate political dissent.
