A private phone conversation in which two former opposition officials in Battambang province allegedly spoke of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s death was the focus of an incitement trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday.
An orphanage set up by a Johnson & Johnson heiress on prime Phnom Penh waterfront land has become embroiled in a child torture trial that on Friday saw a teenage witness who went “missing” for five days show up to “find justice” in favor of the alleged torturer.
The Phnom Penh court on Thursday sought ways to streamline the mass trial of more than 130 opposition supporters in the face of missed names, crammed-in defendants and complaints that the accused had no information about what they were accused of.
Hearings are underway at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for more than 100 supporters of the dissolved CNRP who were charged with incitement and plotting. Arriving defendants and their colleagues say the occasion is a chance for the persecuted opposition to show solidarity.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday again pushed back a trial against nine leaders of the dissolved main opposition party, as the defendants, who are overseas, called for their Cambodian passports to be returned so they can attend.
A news publisher has been sentenced to 18 months in prison over criticisms of Prime Minister Hun Sen in several social media posts.
A trial of nine senior opposition leaders living abroad was delayed on Wednesday morning as defense lawyers requested time for the defendants to attempt to return to the country.
Over a dozen pages of court documents summoning former CNRP members, including several party leaders and ex-lawmakers, on charges of plotting and incitement were taped to an abandoned security guard booth at the banned party’s former headquarters in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
A news publisher who was imprisoned over criticisms of Prime Minister Hun Sen in several social media posts pleaded guilty at his trial on Tuesday but said he was just trying to arouse interest and more “likes.”
The banned opposition party on Wednesday requested that the Cambodian government lift travel restrictions and reinstate high-ranking members’ passports to clear the way for nine party officials summoned by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to return to the country.
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