At the 47th session in Kem Sokha’s treason case, the defendant’s lawyers rejected a prosecutor’s claim that the former opposition leader was responsible for a violent clash in 2013.
According a defense lawyer speaking after the trial hearing, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor had submitted as evidence a video clip of the clash at Kbal Thnal bridge, in which police shot and killed a protester during that year’s mass movement sparked by allegations of election manipulation by the ruling CPP. Clashes between police and protestors on the night of September 15 also resulted in 15 people being injured and six arrested.
Defense lawyer Chan Chen told reporters the protest was unrelated to Sokha.
“The prosecutor … seems to be trying to hold my client responsible” for the bridge protest, Chen said. “Actually, my client, his excellency Kem Sokha, has often said that every demonstration beside those at Freedom Park is not under his responsibility or that of the CNRP.”
Chen said presiding judge Koy Sao will continue the trial on July 13.
The Kbal Thnal bridge protest took place amid the tense post-election period, in which the CNRP accused the ruling party of rigging the contest. According to media reports from the aftermath of the event, tens of thousands of people had taken to the streets to demand an independent probe into the election.
Police had reportedly barricaded main arterial roads near the bridge leading in and out of the city, and used water cannons and tear gas in an effort to disperse gathered protesters. After that, according to rights groups at the time, they fired upon the crowd with bullets, killing the one man and injuring others.
Am Sam Ath, spokesman for human rights group Licadho, said that civil society wants to see politicians from the ruling party and opposition end their dispute through dialogue in order to avoid both national and international criticism over the backwardness of the democratic process in Cambodia.
Sokha’s trial has been prolonged, Sam Ath noted, which could affect his rights to return to politics as the 2023 national election approaches.
“We as the civil society have urged again and again that politicians who are mature should turn to continue the culture of political dialogue to find a solution and end Kem Sokha’s case,” he said.
