US, UN troubled by Cambodian court decision to uphold defunct opposition leader’s conviction

WASHINGTON – The US State Department said on May 1 that Washington was “troubled” by a Cambodian appeals court’s decision that upheld a 27-year sentence for former opposition leader Kem Sokha for his treason conviction.

The appeals court decision on April 30 was another blow to an opposition decimated by the ruling party’s long-running crackdown.

“The United States is troubled by the decision to uphold activist and opposition leader Kem Sokha’s conviction of treason,” the State Department said in a statement on May 1.

“Claims of US involvement are patently false and irresponsible,” it added.

On May 1, Mr Volker Turk, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, also said he was “deeply concerned by the upholding of the conviction”.

Kem Sokha, 72, was convicted for trying to topple the government of long-ruling former prime minister Hun Sen, who is the father of the current leader and remains an influential figure in national politics.

Kem Sokha was sentenced in 2023 to 27 years in prison for treason but was ordered to serve the time under house arrest in the capital Phnom Penh.

The co-founder of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, he has repeatedly denied the charge since his 2017 arrest in connection with a speech he gave in Australia four years earlier.

‘Conspiracy theories’

The US had previously said Kem Sokha’s conviction was based on “fabricated conspiracy theories”.

His case was among the most prominent in a sweeping crackdown on opponents of the CPP, which has ruled Cambodia for decades.

Activists and Western countries have condemned mass trials in Cambodia involving more than 100 opposition figures, with many jailed in absentia on treason and incitement charges.

“Limiting the exercise of freedom of expression and association hinders Cambodia’s international standing,” the State Department said.

Rights groups have long accused the Cambodian authorities of using legal cases as a tactic to silence opposition voices and legitimate political dissent.

‘Chilling effects’

Mr Turk also voiced concerns about the convictions of 33 other opposition activists, human rights defenders and social media users, in a separate case on April 29.

The Phnom Penh first instance court imposed sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to two years in prison, Mr Turk’s Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said, on charges of “incitement to cause social chaos” over public comments they made in 2024 about the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area project.

“These convictions and sentences are clearly inconsistent with international human rights law and risk further deepening the already-considerable chilling effects of broad, vaguely worded criminal laws and their arbitrary enforcement on civil society, journalists and the broader population in Cambodia,” OHCHR spokesman Jeremy Laurence said.

“Kem Sokha and the other 33 individuals were all exercising their rights to freedom of expression. Their trials also raise concerns about violations of due process and fair trial rights,” he told a press conference in Geneva.

Mr Turk urged Cambodia to ensure that legitimate criticism and expression are protected rather than criminalised, to safeguard civic space, to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and uphold fair trial guarantees.

“The authorities should promptly quash these latest convictions and sentences, and unconditionally release Kem Sokha and all others arbitrarily detained for exercising their rights,” said Mr Laurence.

Mr Laurence said OHCHR had consistently raised concerns with the Cambodian authorities “on general repression, and particularly on freedom of speech, expression, association and assembly”. REUTERS, AFP