Thach Setha, a prominent vice president of the country’s main opposition Candlelight Party, talks to media members near the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Aug. 10, 2014. Credit: AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File

Cambodian Opposition Activist Imprisoned For Passing Fraudulent Checks

The case, which the opposition Candlelight Party has denounced as politically motivated, is another early sign that the new Cambodian administration will be much like its predecessor.

September 23, 2023

by The Diplomat

A prominent Cambodian opposition leader was yesterday convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison for passing fraudulent checks, an early sign that the country’s long season of repression is set to continue under its new-look leadership.

Cambodia’s top opposition leader jailed for ‘check fraud’

In a hearing yesterday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Thach Setha, a vice president of the Candlelight Party (CLP), guilty of issuing several bounced checks in 2019, The Associated Press reported, citing Setha’s lawyer Sam Sokong.

The defense counsel said the court also ordered the 70-year-old politician to pay $33,400 to the company that filed the complaint about the checks, leading to his arrest in January.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/09/cambodian-opposition-activist-imprisoned-for-passing-fraudulent-checks/

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