Updated: Mass Trial Sentences 31 to Jail, Cambodian-American Detained

Thirty-one opposition activists have been sentenced to six to eight years in jail for plotting and incitement, while another 20 had their sentences suspended, as the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued CNRP mass-trial verdicts on Tuesday morning.

Scuffles earlier broke out on the road outside a CNRP mass-trial verdict hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as officers dragged away Seng Chan Theary, a Cambodian-American opposition activist.

Chan Theary, a trained lawyer, has been regularly protesting the case, in which she is one of 60 defendants in an incitement and plotting case all linked to the outlawed opposition CNRP.

Around 10 a.m., in the presence of around 50 officers, Chan Theary was taken into custody. Other protesters scuffled with officers over protest banners, getting dragged into the street.

In court, 12 were sentenced to eight years in jail, 19 others — including Chan Theary — to six years, and 20 had five-year sentences suspended. The situation was unclear for nine others originally part of the case.

Around 15 arrest warrants, mostly for CNRP leaders overseas including Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua, were also issued.

After the verdict was announced, defendants Heng Chan Sothy, Kam Komphear and Tum Bunthorn raised their arms in court and shouted “Bravo, Candlelight Party!” They then criticized the court for being remote-controlled and for “following orders.”

Chan Sothy, Komphear and Bunthorn, alongside one other defendant, Yok Neang, were already in jail for other cases.

Prum Chantha, wife of convicted opposition activist Komphear, was dragged to the ground by authorities after joining a protest outside the courthouse. “It’s an injustice — six years, in its entirety.”

“I’m crying, but it doesn’t mean I feel shocked or sorry. I’m crying from feeling hurt, because I’m wondering why Cambodians are mistreating our own people like this,” Chantha said.

The case dates back to the exiled Sam Rainsy’s unsuccessful attempt to return to the country in 2019, with the defendants charged with aiding in his return and plotting to gather people for the occasion. The current trial is the product of two case files merged early on to facilitate the hearings.

The trial has been ongoing since 2020, with the prosecution repeatedly playing videos of Rainsy in the U.S. announcing his return to Cambodia. Testimony produced during the trial had an anti-terrorism police officer say that supporting Rainsy’s return was incitement and a prosecutor argue that gathering people on a holiday — Rainsy planned to return on Independence Day — was ill-intended.

Two other cases have already reached verdicts. Senior CNRP leaders, including Sam Rainsy, Eng Chhai Eang and Mu Sochua, were convicted of attack against the state and sentenced to at least 20 years in prison. Twenty-one CNRP members and others were convicted in March of incitement, plotting and incitement of the military to disobey orders for supporting the formation of the Cambodia National Rescue Movement.

Updated at 11 a.m. with verdict details, and at 11:30 a.m. with video and more photos.