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Several foreign missions in Cambodia welcomed a royal pardon for opposition leader Kem Sokha that lifted his 27-year house arrest sentence for treason but left intact bans on political activity and foreign travel.
The United States, Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Canada and the European Union delegation issued statements in the days following Monday’s pardon. The decree was signed by Senate President Hun Sen – Sokha’s longtime political rival and former prime minister – on behalf of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is receiving medical treatment overseas.
The United States, which Cambodian prosecutors accused of conspiring with Sokha to overthrow Hun Sen’s government in 2017, welcomed the move.
“The United States has consistently called for the release of Kem Sokha and maintained that his conviction related to claims of U.S. involvement in activities against Cambodia’s government was unfounded,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement on Friday.
It described the pardon as a positive step and urged the Cambodian government to ensure citizens can freely exercise their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
The British Embassy said it had closely monitored the legal cases against Sokha and had long advocated for his release and the restoration of his political freedoms.
“In this context, we welcome the royal pardon of his custodial sentence,” it said.
German Ambassador Stefan Messerer was among the first foreign diplomats to respond, saying on Wednesday that he hoped the pardon would mark a “broader move toward a more open and just civic space in Cambodia.”
Canada also called for the full restoration of Sokha’s civil and political rights.
France described the move as a “partial pardon” and reaffirmed its commitment to the rule of law and democratic pluralism in Cambodia and elsewhere.
Sokha, 72, co-founded the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was banned by the Supreme Court after his 2017 arrest. He was sentenced in 2023 to 27 years of house arrest in Phnom Penh on treason charges that United Nations experts said were politically motivated.
Alongside the sentence, Sokha was stripped of his political rights and barred from meeting anyone outside his family.
The pardon removed Sokha’s house arrest but left intact his lifetime ban from politics and a five-year foreign travel ban imposed after he lost an appeal in April.
Prime Minister Hun Manet, who succeeded his father Hun Sen in 2023, described the move as “a further step toward national unity.”Opposition figures and political observers said the pardon appeared aimed at easing international criticism of Cambodia’s democratic decline rather than signalling broader political reform.
