5th September, 2017
Cambodian opposition leader, Kem Sokha, has been charged with treason and could face a jail term of 15 to 30 years if convicted, a court said on Tuesday.
Sokha was arrested on Sunday in an escalating crackdown on critics of Prime Minister, Hun Sen’s government, which accused the opposition leader of plotting with the U.S. to undermine the Southeast Asian country.
Sokha had been charged with “colluding with foreigners” under Article 443 of Cambodia’s penal code, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said in a statement.
“The act of secret collusion with foreigners is an act of treason,’’ it added.
The evidence the government has presented is a video of Sokha from 2013 in which he tells supporters of his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) that he has had American support and advice for his political strategy to win power.
One of the opposition leader’s lawyers, Pheng Heng, said what appeared in the video clip was no crime.
“The legal procedure is wrong and the charge isn’t correct,’’ he said.
“His words are educational in a workshop … What he talked about was elections in a multi-party democratic way.’’
The arrest of Sokha and growing pressure on independent media and rights groups have drawn condemnation from the U.S. and other Western countries, which have raised questions over whether a general election in 2018 can be fair.
But Hun Sen, one of Asia’s longest serving rulers, has won support from China, which has made him one of its closest regional allies and provided billions of dollars in infrastructure loans.
The election could represent Sen’s greatest electoral challenge in more than three decades in power, but his opponents accuse him of trying to shut down all opposition in advance.
Lawyers met Sokha on Monday for 20 minutes and said his health was fine.
“I may lose freedom, but may freedom never die in Cambodia,” Sokha was quoted as saying in a post on Twitter that was repeated by his daughter, Monovithya Kem.
The EU has called for his immediate release, based on the fact that he is meant to have parliamentary immunity, as an elected lawmaker.
The U.S. State Department expressed “grave concern” at his arrest on charges it said appeared to be politically motivated.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al-Hussein said on Monday he was seriously concerned about the arrest and the evidence against the opposition leader.
The leadership of Cambodia’s main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), rejected treason charges against its leader Sokha on Tuesday and called on the international community to intervene.
“Democracy in Cambodia is in total danger, Mr Kem Sokha has committed no crime,” Mu Sochua, the party’s Deputy President, said.
“We call on the international community to fulfil their obligations under the Paris Peace Accords, which is to guarantee the protection of human rights and democracy and free and fair election,” she added.
Sokha was charged under article 443 of the Cambodian penal code with “conspiring with foreign power,” an offence which carries 15 to 30 years imprisonment, the prosecutor’s office in Phnom Penh announced earlier Tuesday.
The statement said the party leader was arrested “for committing [a] red-handed crime related to a secret plan and the activities of conspiracy between Sokha and foreigners which causes chaos and affects the Kingdom of Cambodia.”
The charge followed Sokha’s middle-of-the-night arrest on Sunday, which observers say was meant to solidify the position of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the longest serving ruler in the region, ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.
In recent weeks, the Cambodian government has closed down more than 15 radio stations, expelled the National Democratic Institute, an international pro-democracy NGO and forced the main English-language newspaper to shut down over a tax dispute.