PHNOM PENH — A Cambodian courtroom handed out jail phrases Thursday to 36 opposition figures, together with exiled chief Sam Rainsy, within the newest mass trial in opposition to opponents of strongman ruler Hun Sen, a rights group and lawyer stated.
Rainsy has lived in France since 2015 to keep away from jail on a number of convictions he says are politically motivated, together with a life sentence handed down in October for allegedly ceding territory to a overseas entity.
Eleven politicians from his now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have been sentenced to seven years in jail and stripped of their rights to vote or stand for workplace for 5 years, rights group Licadho stated.
An additional 22 activists have been sentenced to 5 years in jail, whereas three defendants acquired suspended sentences in a case associated to an try by exiled opposition politician Mu Sochua to enter Cambodia in January 2021.
Only three of the activists are in detention. The different 33, who’re both overseas or on the run, have been convicted in absentia by the Phnom Penh Municipal courtroom.
“I am so disappointed with the ruling,” the defendants’ lawyer Sam Sokong advised AFP, including he’ll talk about along with his shoppers whether or not to attraction in opposition to the verdicts.
Licadho’s deputy director Am Sam Ath advised AFP the worldwide neighborhood regarded the trial as politically motivated.
In a separate case, the identical courtroom concluded a long-delayed treason trial in opposition to high opposition chief Kem Sokha on Wednesday, with a verdict due on March 3.
Roughly 60 opposition figures, together with twin US-Cambodian citizen Theary Seng, have been convicted in June in a mass treason trial that rights teams additionally condemned as politically motivated.
Critics say 70-year-old Hun Sen, Asia’s longest-serving chief, has wound again democratic freedoms and used the courts to stifle opponents, jailing scores of activists and human rights defenders.
He has vowed to face in a nationwide election subsequent yr, whereas additionally supporting his eldest son Hun Manet to succeed him.
Hun Sen has promised to crush the exiled Rainsy and continues to squeeze political challengers forward of the 2023 election. — Agence France-Presse
