After a five-year wait, Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha is expected to learn his legal fate on Friday when the Phnom Penh Municipal Court announces its verdict in his treason case.
The unsubstantiated charges against Kem Sokha followed his arrest in September 2017 when more than 100 armed police officers stormed his home in Phnom Penh. Several months earlier, his Cambodia National Rescue Party – the main opposition party at the time – had made significant gains in local commune elections.
The treason charges against him have always been denied by Kem Sokha and have been derided by the international community.
“It’s ridiculous that Kem Sokha has lost five years of his freedom and that Cambodian voters have not been able to consider him for elections,” said Brad Adams, former Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch. “All because of a faked case. They found an old video of him calling for democracy in Cambodia and decided to make that a crime.”
Kem Sokha, 69, was put on trial beginning in January 2020 but the hearings were suspended two months later on the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic. The trial resumed last year. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
Meng Sopheary, Kem Sokha’s lawyer, said her client will attend Friday’s court hearing.
“We cannot say whether the court judgment will turn out to be positive or negative,” she said. “But we have raised a lot of legal arguments that have shown the prosecution does not have enough evidence to convict my client.”
Prison, then house arrest
The evidence presented included a video recorded in 2013 in which he discusses a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. The United States Embassy has rejected any suggestion that Washington is interfering in Cambodian politics.
After his 2017 arrest, Kem Sokha was sent to Trapeang Phlong Prison in Tbong Khmum province, near the border with Vietnam. He was transferred to his house arrest in Phnom Penh in October 2018. More than a year later, the court eased some of the restrictions against him by allowing to travel inside the country but still banned from participating in politics.
Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved and outlawed the CNRP following Kem Sokha’s arrest. That paved the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to take every seat in the National Assembly in the 2018 general election.
The ban on the CNRP also kicked off a five-year crackdown on political opposition, with many of those affiliated with the party arrested and detained on charges like conspiracy, incitement and treason.
‘A complex knot’
The case is obviously politically influenced and shows just how much Hun Sen has interfered with Cambodia’s judiciary, political activist Lao Mong Hay said.
“The due process was breached. The court kept delaying his trial week by week. The procedure of arrest, imprisonment and bail and house arrest were all wrong,” he said. “The prime minister said that Sokha’s case will be tried by 2023 or 2024. This clearly shows that politicians interfered in the affairs of the court. ”
Another irregularity was the fact that the court never summoned any foreigners to testify, even though Kem Sokha is accused of conspiring with a foreign government, Lao Mong Hay said.
Hun Sen does indeed control the courts, and the prime minister would be making a mistake by allowing Kem Sokha to be found guilty of treason, exiled political analyst Kim Sok said. This is a time for resolving problems, not making them worse, he said.
“The fact that he accused Kem Sokha of colluding with the U.S. and other foreigners is already a complex knot. If he doesn’t take this opportunity to untie the knot, the problem will be greater,” he said. “The ongoing issue will spill over to Hun Manet’s burden in the future.”
Hun Sen has said he expects to remain in power until 2028, when he plans for his son, Hun Manet, to take over.
It is more likely that Kem Sokha will be found guilty, political analyst Em Sovannara said. That would ensure that the CPP dominates the July general elections.
“The appeal process would take time, at least until the 2023 election is over. That means Kem Sokha would not be able to join the election,” he said. “Then the new National Assembly will be without CNRP or Kem Sokha.”
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