After two days of hearings on opposition leader Kem Sokha’s appeal of his treason conviction, his lawyer said on Thursday that a Phnom Penh court would issue a verdict at a later date, without specifying when.
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court resumed Sokha’s appeal on Wednesday, more than 18 months after the last hearing.
The 72-year-old founder of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was sentenced in 2023 to 27 years under house arrest in Phnom Penh. He was convicted of treason over allegations he colluded with the United States to topple the government of long-time former Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose son Hun Manet now holds the position. Sokha has denied the charges since his arrest in 2017.
A lower court also stripped him of his political rights and barred him from meeting foreigners or anyone outside his family. United Nations experts said the case is politically motivated and reflects a broader pattern of legal action against opposition figures.
During Thursday’s session, Sokha’s co-defense lawyers called on the court to overturn the conviction, arguing there was insufficient evidence and that no foreign country had been identified as having colluded with him.
“We have not seen Kem Sokha bring in any foreigners to cede even one square meter of land to foreign invasion. It is not true,” defense lawyer Pheng Heng told reporters outside the court.
He said prosecutors relied on video of a speech Sokha gave in Australia in 2013 to a Cambodian diaspora community to allege he conspired with the United States. Heng said the video was “insufficient evidence to support the accusation.”
The court has treated the activities cited in the case as attempts to foment unrest aimed at overthrowing the government but did not point to any act of aggression against Cambodia, Heng added, citing last year’s border tensions with Thailand as an example of hostilities.
