The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard an appeal from opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour against the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision to reinvestigate claims he forged a diplomatic treaty and also to deny his release on bail.
Mr. Sok Hour was jailed in August on the prime minister’s orders after a video was posted online showing him presenting a fake 1980s border treaty with Vietnam.
He has denied forging the document, saying he found it through Google in 2007, and he repeated his defense on Wednesday.
“The authorities accused me of forging the document, but I did not forge it, as this document was found on the internet,” he said.
“Send experts to see the document.”
The municipal court has used Mr. Sok Hour’s defense to order his continued detention and the seizure of his computer for a new investigation to determine whether he was the author, a decision prosecutors defended on Wednesday.
However, Mr. Sok Hour’s lawyers say that is not necessary because they can simply show the court the website that the fake treaty came from.
A verdict on the appeal is due on June 22.
