Cambodia should immediately drop “bogus” charges against opposition chief Kem Sokha, rights groups demanded Tuesday, the eve of a planned two-day treason trial in a case they said will be overseen by a politically controlled judiciary beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) president Kem Sokha will be “the victim of a staged trial on completely bogus treason charges” when proceedings at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court get underway on Wednesday, and that the government should “cut their losses by dropping the charges against him.”
“But clearly Prime Minister Hun Sen decided instead to extract the proverbial pound of flesh from Kem Sokha for daring to challenge him,” he said in a statement of the opposition leader, who faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
In full: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/bogus-01142020160020.html
