Scuffles have broken out on the road outside a CNRP mass-trial verdict hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as officers dragged away defendant Seng Chan Theary, a Cambodian-American opposition activist.
Cambodian National Heart Party founder Seam Pluk is at a “safe place” as police investigate forgery charges, while a land activist fled a death threat.
Cross-examinations are complete in one of the country’s mass opposition trials, which is now set for closing arguments in early May, a defense lawyer said. Twelve Malaysian nationals were repatriated from Cambodia after being entrapped in forced-labor compounds and beaten and abused with electric shocks, according to media reports.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court reviewed evidence presented during a mass trial involving around 60 CNRP leaders, members and supporters who planned to support the return of former party president Sam Rainsy in 2019.
Japan hopes to continue “friendly” visits to Ream naval base, a spokesperson said; a mass trial of at least 40 defendants associated with the CNRP resumed Monday.
Antiterrorism police said in court on Tuesday that CNRP defendants linked to or supporting Sam Rainsy’s planned return in 2019 were engaging in incitement.
On-trial opposition activist Seng Chan Theary said she needed more time to study her case after enlisting the help of a new defense lawyer, as a judge reprimanded her for her ongoing online criticisms of the court.
Just one of 13 summoned defendants was present at the fifth hearing in a trial involving more than 40 former opposition members charged with plotting and incitement, as questioning again fell into a familiar pattern about links to the CNRP and overseas trainings.
More than 40 defendants linked to the dissolved CNRP were on trial Tuesday morning for incitement and conspiracy, as part of mass trials against members of the opposition that were suspended early this year.
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