Meetings played out behind closed doors on the first day of the Asean Summit in Phnom Penh on Thursday as hundreds of workers scurried throughout the Sokha Hotel’s labyrinthic interior to tape down innumerable red carpets and arrange flowers.
Defense lawyers demanded the judicial police identify where Facebook comments used as evidence were posted from, in order to show they were really made by defendants in an ongoing opposition mass trial.
A defense lawyer who was among 118 opposition officials banned from politics for five years is looking to join the Candlelight Party once the ban ends on November 16.
Prime Minister Hun Sen defended recent changes to the Constitutional process of choosing new prime ministers, pointing to the U.K.’s revolving-door leadership as an example of a system with less parliamentary oversight than Cambodia.
Former Kampong Speu commune chief Kim Tola was arrested trying to fly out of Phnom Penh for travel on Sunday over an incitement conviction from earlier this year.
A prominent opposition commune councilor says she has filed a police complaint against a ruling-party councilor over a dispute involving a constituent’s request for a birth certificate.
The parallels to 2017’s “death of democracy” have been striking as Prime Minister Hun Sen threatens to dissolve Cambodia’s largest opposition party, leaving Candlelight leaders to grapple with what — if anything — they can do about it.
Candlelight Party councilors are being asked by ruling party commune officials to thumbprint petitions denouncing opposition leader Sam Rainsy for allegedly insulting the king.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked all Candlelight Party commune councilors to defect and retain their positions in a new party, while also challenging three senior opposition officials to renounce Sam Rainsy.
Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to monks and members of the public to stand up against Sam Rainsy and any party involved with him in order to protect the monarchy.
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