Trial of the ‘secessionist’ commences
Throngs of protesters gathered at the Olympic Stadium yesterday, at times straining against a mix of police force barriers and riot shields in their effort to show support for jailed Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando, whose trial was beginning just down the street at Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Sonando, 70 – along with co-defendants Kan Sovan, aka Chan Sovann; Touch Siem, aka Touch Rin; and Phoin Sroeurn – is faced with a handful of charges stemming from his alleged masterminding of a so-called secessionist plot in Kratie province, amid ongoing calls for his release from opposition politicians and rights organisations who maintain that the charges against him are unfounded. ... Yesterday’s only witnesses were the nine accused, and as testimony continued behind closed doors. Other witnesses and the defendants’ family members milled around outside the courtroom where “Free Mam Sonando. Stop the Violence” T-shirts were being distributed in abundance. ... Protesters joined police in a head-on scrum that left children who were caught in the melee bawling, and several protesters with bruises and bloodied shins – injuries they sustained, they said, when police began punching and kicking them through gaps in their shields. ...
