A Cambodian court yesterday sentenced exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to 10 years in prison over an alleged plot to topple Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Rainsy has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail on convictions that he says are politically motivated, including a 25-year sentence passed in March last year.
As well as Rainsy, the court jailed six other senior opposition figures for 10 years, and 13 more rights advocates for five years.
Photo: AP
One other rights advocate was given a suspended five-year sentence.
There were scuffles outside the court as security officers tried to confiscate a banner from the defendants’ wives and supporters, knocking some of them to the ground.
“After the verdict was announced, my jailed clients screamed out injustice — they were so angry with the judgement,” lawyer Sam Sokong told reporters, adding that they would appeal.
Photo: AP
Outside the court, relatives were bereft.
“This is very unjust. I expected he would be released today. Please, international community help my husband,” said So Ith, the wife of one defendant.
The charges related to Rainsy’s planned return to Cambodia in 2019, when he called on people to rise up against Hun Sen.
About 150 opposition figures and rights advocates have been put on trial on treason and incitement charges — mostly for sharing social media messages supporting Rainsy’s return to the kingdom.
Hun Sen is one of the world’s longest-ruling leaders, having been in office for more than 30 years.
Critics and rights groups say he has ruthlessly crushed dissent by jailing opponents.
Since the most recent general election in 2018, when Hun Sen’s party won every seat in a vote without a credible opposition, the Cambodian authorities have stepped up arrests of former members of the dissolved opposition party, human rights defenders and dissenting voices.
Human Rights Watch condemned the verdicts and urged the international community to take a stand.
“The mass trial and convictions of political opponents on baseless charges is a witch hunt that discredits both the Cambodian government and the country’s courts,” Human Rights Watch’s Phil Robertson said in a statement.
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