Authorities sent 16 people aboard a foreign tanker to court on Tuesday after the ship entered Cambodian waters bearing the Cambodian flag, despite the government repealing its “flag of convenience” scheme five years ago.
Kem Sokha’s lawyers walked out of his trial hearing before it finished on Thursday after the judge interrupted them during a heated argument over access to evidence, which ended in the judge postponing the proceedings for two weeks.
Lawyers for the government and opposition leader Kem Sokha on Thursday sparred in court over the veracity, origins and context of various pieces of evidence, requesting that some items be corrected or excluded from the trial.
Two former Radio Free Asia journalists accused of espionage said on Monday that their rights and livelihoods were restricted by a court decision to continue withholding their passports and ID cards following their release on bail.
The reported expenses of on trial opposition leader Kem Sokha’s Human Rights Party fell below the plausible costs of the party’s activities, government lawyers claimed on Thursday, though they did not say what activities were supposedly unaccounted for.
Opposition leader Kem Sokha on Wednesday objected to the repeated questioning of his past activities, telling the court during his treason trial that he could not remember the details.
UPDATED 9:33 a.m. — U.N. representatives issued a statement on Friday calling the trial of Kem Sokha, the leader of the outlawed opposition, “tainted by irregularities,” and criticized his arrest without a warrant, arbitrary detention and the lack of public access to trial proceedings.
Kem Sokha argued in court on Thursday that his political and NGO activities adhered to democratic and human rights principles, and therefore would not be a crime under the charge of conspiring with a foreign power, according to his lawyers.
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday called for reforms in the country’s judiciary, which has been ranked among the worst in the world in terms of corruption and government influence.
A newly launched government service for free legal consultations could be part of the solution to the country’s judicial woes, experts said, though they also cautioned that the committee overseeing it would need to be transparent and take further steps in the future.
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