Four defendants were in hiding while dozens of local CNRP supporters gathered for what they said was the first time since the party’s dissolution as the Tbong Khmum Provincial Court on Tuesday sentenced five ex-opposition officials to jail for plotting.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has released on bail a former CNRP public affairs officer accused of “plotting” after an investigating judge placed him under court supervision, a court spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Police arrested another ex-CNRP activist on Sunday, accusing party vice president Mu Sochua’s former assistant of collecting money from abroad to fund a local movement to overthrow the government.
Ex-CNRP members in two provinces were jailed or summoned to trial over old charges of incitement and plotting, with authorities relitigating cases related to party founder Sam Rainsy’s failed promise to return to the country last year and other campaigns promoted by party leaders living in exile abroad.
The leader of the outlawed opposition CNRP has been traversing the nation on what he and his lawyers say amount to goodwill excursions. But is Kem Sokha testing the boundaries of his bail conditions — and Cambodia’s political floodwaters?
Nearly 30 former opposition party members from Kampong Cham have been summoned to appear in the provincial court over accusations of incitement, while a former CNRP district councilor for Phnom Penh also faces questioning for alleged incitement to cause serious chaos to social security in the capital.
Ex-CNRP lawmaker Son Chhay, who requested his political rights be restored by the government last week, has always marched to his own beat, including challenging ruling party and opposition leaders alike, former colleagues and observers say.
Three more senior leaders of the outlawed opposition CNRP have asked the government’s permission to participate in politics again, leaving exiled CNRP deputy president Mu Sochua wondering why.
Four opposition activists were arrested this week amid recurring protests calling for the release from prison of a prominent labor leader as well as members of the outlawed opposition CNRP, some of whose family members continued to demonstrate in the capital on Friday.
Police have arrested at least 30 people, some linked to the outlawed opposition CNRP, for allegedly posting fake news about Covid-19 this year. Officials have defended the arrests as an attempt to prevent social disorder, but others say they are meant to silence dissent.
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