The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld guilty verdicts against seven people convicted for attempting to join a 2020 Paris Peace Agreements Day protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh.
The decision follows a March 23 hearing of the appeal by seven people, a mix of land and political opposition activists, who were convicted of incitement as activists attempted to join the protest.
The group includes activists Phon Sophal, Mak Sam An, Prov Chanthoeun, Khorn Torn, Um Yet and Su Yean. Those six have already been released from prison after serving one-year sentences.
The seventh defendant, Sean Chamnan, is an imprisoned land activist from Tambor district, who remains behind bars for his additional charge of threatening, for which the Tbong Khmum provincial court sentenced him to seven years in the Tbong Khmum provincial prison.
Though all seven are named in the appeal, only Chamnan appeared in court last week. A representative of the Sre Prang community, Chamnan was arrested by the authorities on January 15, 2021, in Oddar Meanchey province.
— Khan Leakhena
Arrest Ordered for Secretary-of-State Imposter
Appeal court investigating judge Seng Rithy on Tuesday ordered the pretrial detention of a man who pretended to be a high-ranking government official in order to offer people ministry jobs in exchange for money.
According to a court summons seen by VOD, the man allegedly pretended to be a secretary of state for the Tourism Ministry in order to defraud an unspecified number of victims of $8,000. None of the names of the people involved in the case were listed in the summons.
The fraud included fake public documents and the misuse of government uniform, according to the summons, which ordered the man to PJ prison.
— Mam Sampichida
