A number one Cambodian opposition politician who was sentenced final month to 18 months in jail on expenses of issuing nugatory checks has been convicted and sentenced to a few extra years of imprisonment for alleged incitement to commit a felony and to d…
BySOPHENG CHEANG Related Press
October 18, 2023, 7:48 AM
FILE – Thach Setha, a distinguished vp of the nation’s essential opposition, Candlelight Celebration, talks to media members close to the Vietnam Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Aug. 10, 2014. A prime Cambodian opposition politician who was sentenced final month to 18 months in jail for issuing nugatory checks has been convicted and sentenced to a few years extra imprisonment for incitement to commit a felony and incitement to discriminate on the idea of race, faith or nationality. (AP Picture/Heng Sinith, File)
The Related Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A number one Cambodian opposition politician who was sentenced final month to 18 months in jail on expenses of issuing nugatory checks was convicted and sentenced on Wednesday to a few extra years of imprisonment for alleged incitement to commit a felony and incitement to discriminate on the idea of race, faith or nationality.
Presiding Choose Chhun Davy of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court docket additionally ordered Thach Setha, a vp of the opposition Candlelight Celebration, to pay a 4 million riel ($1,000) nice.
Opposition events in Cambodia steadily face authorized challenges initiated by the federal government.
The case in opposition to Thach Setha was based mostly on remarks posted on social media that he made in January to Cambodian abroad employees about then-Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cambodia’s relations with neighboring Vietnam.
Many Cambodians retain historic suspicions that greater neighbor Vietnam is intent on annexing their territory, and prejudice in opposition to ethnic Vietnamese is widespread. Critics have focused Hun Sen due to his shut hyperlinks to Vietnam after he grew to become prime minister in 1985 in a authorities that was put in by Vietnam, whose forces had ousted Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.
Some opposition politicians have used inflammatory anti-Vietnamese rhetoric to attempt to win assist, however the authorities additionally prosecutes politicians similar to Thach Setha who’re merely crucial of official coverage towards Vietnam.
“It’s outrageous and unacceptable that Thach Setha has been imprisoned for 3 years for merely expressing his views through a social media put up,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, stated in an emailed assertion.
He stated the federal government’s repression of the Candlelight Celebration beneath present Prime Minister Hun Manet, who succeeded his father Hun Sen in August, means “nobody ought to be fooled that his authorities will likely be any higher than what we noticed beneath his father’s oppressive rule.”
Thach Setha’s lawyer, Sam Sokong, stated his consumer would enchantment the decision.
The identical Phnom Penh courtroom on Sept. 21 sentenced Thach Setha to 18 months in jail for allegedly issuing nugatory checks in a case his social gathering referred to as politically motivated.
