The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has issued a reminder to Kem Sokha, president of the outlawed opposition CNRP, after authorities accused him of violating his bail terms by visiting supporters.
An online petition launched on Tuesday by the outlawed main opposition party calling for investigations into extrajudicial killings in Cambodia, and foreign visa sanctions and the freezing of assets of Prime Minister Hun Sen and others has gained more than 400 signers, with goals of half a million signatories.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said he encouraged banks and microlenders to confiscate property from any borrowers who participate in debt repayment refusal movements and purposefully fail to pay back loans.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has jailed a former local officer of the outlawed opposition CNRP for allegedly violating the terms of his bail seven months after he was released from prison alongside dozens of other CNRP members, his lawyer said on Monday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday warned that those stirring up social unrest by calling for borrowers not to repay their debts, apparently alluding to opposition CNRP figure Sam Rainsy and his supporters, would be arrested — the same day a CNRP member was jailed.
The Appeal Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to accept new evidence from the prosecution in Kem Sokha’s stalled treason trial, although a lawyer for the opposition leader on Thursday expressed doubt that the evidence would incriminate him.
More than 40 people have been arrested this year in relation to alleged chaos-causing incitement and spreading coronavirus-related “fake news,” a police spokesman said.
The U.S. ambassador to Cambodia on Thursday raised concerns that prosecutors are introducing “fabricated conspiracy theories” about the U.S. into the ongoing trial of opposition leader Kem Sokha.
A Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge and prosecutor probed Kem Sokha on Wednesday about his political collaboration with CNRP co-founder Sam Rainsy, in light of what the court officials called Rainsy’s “violent stance.”
Judges on Wednesday accepted additional evidence submitted by prosecutors in the trial of Kem Sokha, against the wishes of defense lawyers who earlier had questioned why new evidence was needed two and half years after the opposition leader was arrested.
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