The presiding judge in Kem Sokha’s treason trial offered to postpone the hearing for three weeks to give the opposition leader’s lawyers time to examine evidence in the case file, after defense lawyers complained that they had not got the evidence on time nor had they been able to review it.
Kem Sokha’s trial kicked off its fifth week of hearings on Wednesday morning with lawyers on all sides continuing to argue and fight over two main issues – admissibility and veracity of evidence sourced from anonymous Facebook page “Kon Khmer” and the prosecution’s reluctance to exactly identify evidence it was using to cross examine Kem Sokha.
The second issue turned into heated back-and-forth, after defense lawyers asked prosecutor Plang Sophal to exactly identify the piece of evidence in the case file he was using to question Kem Sokha. The evidence was seemingly a joint statement by Kem Sokha and opposition leader Sam Rainsy announcing the formation of the Cambodia National Rescue Party.
