Cambodia lawyer, opposition party members jailed for treason

Group including prominent lawyer Theary Seng were tried over opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s abortive 2019 attempt to return home.

Theary Seng, a prominent Cambodian American lawyer, and dozens of members of Cambodia’s banned opposition party have been convicted of treason in a controversial mass trial over a failed attempt by the party’s leader to return home in 2019.

The Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) was forcibly dissolved after a strong showing in local elections in 2017 and its co-leader, Kem Sohka, was charged with treason.

The party’s members and supporters have since been targeted in a number of mass trials that have left Cambodia a virtual one-party state under Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for 37 years.

The latest case was related to a plan by Sam Rainsy, another party leader, to return from exile in 2019.

Rainsy’s attempt was blocked by the government, while Theary Seng and most of the other defendants were accused of organizing the trip – charges they denied.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Theary Seng and most of the others guilty of conspiracy to commit treason, defense lawyer Choung Chou Ngy said.

Theary Seng, who arrived at court dressed as ‘Lady Liberty’, was sentenced to six years in jail, and the others received sentences of between five and eight years. Rainsy, who lives in France, was also among those sentenced and was given an eight-year jail term.

“The mass trials against political opposition members are really about preventing any electoral challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s rule, but they have also come to symbolize the death of Cambodia’s democracy,” said Human Rights Watch’s Asia deputy director Phil Robertson after the verdicts were announced.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES