A Cambodian court has handed out jail terms to 36 opposition figures, including exiled leader Sam Rainsy, in the latest mass trial against opponents of strongman ruler Hun Sen, a rights group and a lawyer said on Thursday.
Sam Rainsy has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail on multiple convictions that he says are politically motivated, including a life sentence handed down in October for “ceding territory to a foreign entity”.
Eleven politicians from his now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) were sentenced to seven years in jail and stripped of their rights to vote or stand for office for five years, the human rights group Licadho said.
A further 22 activists were sentenced to five years in prison, while three defendants received suspended sentences in a case related to an attempt by exiled opposition politician Mu Sochua to enter Cambodia in January 2021.
Only three of the activists are in detention. The other 33, who are either abroad or on the run, were convicted in absentia by the Phnom Penh Municipal court.
“I am so disappointed with the ruling,” the defendants’ lawyer Sam Sokong told AFP, adding he would discuss with his clients whether to appeal against the verdicts.
Am Sam Ath, the deputy director of Licadho, told AFP the international community regarded the trial as politically motivated.
In a separate case, the same court concluded a long-delayed treason trial against top opposition leader Kem Sokha on Wednesday, with a ruling due on March 3.
Roughly 60 opposition figures, including dual US-Cambodian citizen Theary Seng, were convicted in June in a mass treason trial that rights groups also condemned as politically motivated.
Critics say 70-year-old Hun Sen, Asia’s longest-serving leader, has wound back democratic freedoms and used the courts to stifle opponents, jailing scores of activists and human rights defenders.
He has vowed to stand in the national election next year, while also supporting his eldest son Hun Manet to eventually succeed him.
Hun Sen has promised to crush the exiled Sam Rainsy and continues to squeeze political challengers ahead of the 2023 polls.
