Activists on trial asked for their release, fair judgments, and requested a judge spend time at a meditation center, at the close of the trial of protestors supporting unionist Rong Chhun.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday held an incitement trial against seven opposition activists over Facebook posts accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of hiding Covid-19 deaths in March last year, as well as making other claims against him.
A 35-year-old Phnom Penh man allegedly set up a fake checkpoint in Dangkao district pretending to be an official, stopping vegetable trucks to extort money, municipal military police said.
More than 35,000 people were stopped for violations of curfews and other Covid-19 measures during three weeks of restrictions that ended last week, the Justice Ministry said.
Military police raided a Chamkarmon district condominium building in the capital around midday Saturday and arrested more than 100 Chinese nationals, a spokesperson said.
A December social media post about putting a chicken coop in a state of emergency due to a spreading virus was penalized with an 18-month prison sentence by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
Rong Chhun, a long-time activist and unionist, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in jail and ordered to pay 400 million riel, or about $100,000, alongside two others at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
Nine defendants were jailed for 12 to 20 months for incitement for their involvement in protests outside the Chinese Embassy last October, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ruled on Monday.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced a former opposition party activist to a year and half in prison for comments posted in a video clip calling the government soft against the country’s Vietnamese minority, which were made during a rally for jailed unionist Rong Chhun.
Youth activists who were charged with incitement over their participation in protests for the release of jailed unionist Rong Chhun defended their innocence in their second trial hearing on Tuesday, saying their actions amounted to freedom of expression.
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