Mu Sochua (left), listens as Cambodia's exiled opposition figurehead Sam Rainsy speaks during an interview with Agence France-Presse in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 12, 2019. (Photo: AFP)
Phnom Penh Appeal Court has upheld the convictions of former opposition leader Sam Rainsy and 20 of his supporters and former parliamentarians from the outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) for attempting to overthrow the government.
All were sentenced to between five and 10 years for attempting to oust the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which was tied to Sam Rainsy’s failed attempt to return to Cambodia from exile in late 2019.
Sam Rainsy remains in exile but the decision was announced as former CNRP members brace themselves for the fifth mass trial of opposition supporters, due to start on Sept 15.
This case has been linked to an attempt by former CNRP vice-president Mu Sochua and her attempt to return to Cambodia to attend one of the mass trials in early 2021.
She was one of dozens of CNRP people who had their Cambodian passports canceled. The Cambodian embassy in the US then denied Mu Sochua, a dual citizen, a request for a visa in her American passport.
She was among 34 people charged by Phnom Penh court officials on Aug 23. Eight of them — Mu Sochua, Sam Rainsy, Ho Vann, Eng Chhai Eang, Ou Chanrith, Long Ry, Men Sothavarin and Nuth Romduol — live abroad and will be tried in absentia.
“This has led to systemic control by the powers that be"
The CNRP was close to winning the popular vote at elections in 2013 and improved on that performance at commune elections in mid-2017, however, the party was dissolved by the courts in November the same year.
That enabled Hun Sen’s long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win all 125 seats in the National Assembly during elections in 2018 and Cambodia emerged as a one-party state.
Human rights groups loudly condemned the ban on the CNRP and the mass arrests that followed. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN’s special rapporteur for Cambodia, recently urged the government to reform draconian laws and open up civic space.
“Since 2017 when the main opposition party [CNRP] was disbanded unjustly by judicial order, the country has been under single-party rule, with all seats of the National Assembly in the hands of that monopoly,” he told a recent press conference.
“This has led to systemic control by the powers that be, leading to political and other distortions undermining the call for a pluralistic democracy,” Muntarbhorn said.
In upholding the latest verdict presiding Judge Yun Narong noted that Sam Rainsy, Mu Sochua and 19 others had also been convicted on three counts of “plotting, incitement to cause social unrest, and inciting military personnel to disobedience.”
“The Judges’ Council has considered that the ruling dated March 17, 2022 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court was right and in accordance with the laws,” he said.