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The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday questioned jailed activists Pheung Sophea and San Seth, two defendants in a joint trial with Paris Peace Agreement activist Srun Srorn, all charged with incitement over a quashed protest against a regional development pact.
Pheung and Seth are among 37 defendants in a staggered trial, many of whom have spent more than a year in pre-trial detention after being arrested for criticizing the Cambodia–Laos–Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA), a sub-regional economic and security cooperation framework the government withdrew from last year.
The presiding judge Nhim Pisal also heard testimony from a police officer at the Interior Ministry’s National Information Technology Center.
Another defendant in the joint trial, Chak Banmony, who was released on bail earlier this year after pleading guilty, did not attend Friday’s proceeding. Srorn attended but was not questioned.
The crackdown on CLV-DTA critics swept up nearly 100 people in 2024, including children, a move rights groups described as arbitrary and unlawful.
Most defendants face Cambodia’s widely criticised incitement charge, which civil liberties monitors say is often used to target dissent.
The court will continue with witness testimonies and examine evidence before presiding judge Pisal issues a verdict, according to court officials. A date for the next proceeding has not been announced.
The defendants maintained their innocence under questioning, with Sorphea citing their right to freedom of expression.
“I cannot accept the incitement charge because my outspokenness was intended to encourage people to uphold laws in line with the constitution,” Sophea told the court. .
Seth told the court he had been unaware of the group’s criticisms of the CLV-DTA.
Interior Ministry officer Sorn Boramy told the court the defendants were arrested for committing “a red-handed crime” by posting a video that alleged the government had ceded Cambodian territory to Vietnam.
Boramy declined to answer when the defense asked whether police had obtained a warrant at the time of the arrests.
Em Chantha, the defense lawyer for the group, said he hoped his clients would be acquitted because they had not committed any offense.
“After the debates and questioning this morning, we have seen no evidence against our clients. Even the police officer’s testimony was unclear,” he said.
Ny Sokha, president of local rights group Adhoc, who attended Friday’s hearing, called for the defendants’ release, noting they have already spent two-thirds of the maximum incitement sentence in pre-trial detention.
