CNRP ‘Insurrection’ Appeal Hearings Begin

Appeal hearings began on Thursday in the case of 11 opposition figures who were convicted in July for insurrection over a 2014 political protest, with a CNRP official blasting the municipal court over double standards for rejecting his request to get medical treatment outside prison.

A large part of the proceedings focused on how the court would deal with two appeals filed by the defendants, one contesting the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision to deliver a guilty verdict amid a boycott by most of the defense lawyers, and a second appeal against the guilty verdict itself.

Opposition official Meach Sovannara shouts as he is pushed into a police van following an Appeal Court hearing in Phnom Penh on Thursday for 11 CNRP activists convicted of insurrection. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)
Opposition official Meach Sovannara shouts as he is pushed into a police van following an Appeal Court hearing in Phnom Penh on Thursday for 11 CNRP activists convicted of insurrection. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

The only defendant to speak was Meach Sovannara, the director of the CNRP’s information department, who filed a third motion appealing the municipal court’s decision to prevent him from traveling to the U.S. to receive medical treatment for head injuries sustained in a traffic accident.

“The municipal court is inhumane because I have a letter from a doctor in the U.S. to have an appointment to check my disease on July 18, 2015, but the municipal court did not allow it,” he told the court.

Mr. Sovannara noted that a number of wealthy prisoners charged or convicted over violent crimes have recently been allowed to leave prison for medical treatment, including Sok Bun, a real estate mogul convicted last month for beating a female television personality in a Phnom Penh restaurant, and Thong Sarath, a military general suspected of masterminding the assassination of a tycoon in 2014.

“The defendant Thong Sarath, whose [case] is related to murder, he can go to the hospital for treatment, and the defendant whose [case] is related to beating a woman, he can go to the hospital for treatment and he can think about his business, but I am not allowed to go to the hospital for treatment,” he said.

“If I cannot go abroad for treatment, I just ask permission to go to the SOS hospital in Phnom Penh because I still have a headache.”

Prison officials have confirmed that both Mr. Sarath, who has already been convicted of illegal weapons possession, and Mr. Bun have been allowed to receive treatment at local hospitals while serving prison time.

Members of a group of 11 opposition activists who were convicted of insurrection last year leave the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh yesterday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)
Members of a group of 11 opposition activists who were convicted of insurrection last year leave the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh yesterday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

Appeal Court prosecutor Im Sophan said the municipal court had only decided on whether Mr. Sovannara could leave the country to receive treatment, and asked judges to consider the revised request to get treatment in Phnom Penh.

However, Presiding Judge Plang Samnang said Mr. Sovannara had failed to prove that he had a serious medical problem that required urgent treatment.

“The Appeal Court decides to uphold the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision,” the judge announced.

Following the hearing, Mr. Sovannara said that if the court was so inflexible with his appeal to get medical treatment, the prospects were grim for the group’s appeals against the municipal court’s procedure and verdict in the case.

Mr. Sovannara was among three CNRP officials sentenced to 20 years in prison for supposedly leading an insurrection over a protest that turned violent at Freedom Park in July 2014; eight other activists were sentenced to seven years in prison.

Judge Samnang said appeal hearings would resume after the Khmer New Year holiday next month.

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