News

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha may not face trial until after the July elections, after a Phnom Penh Municipal Court decision on Monday to extend his pre-trial detention up to another six months. Meng Sopheary, Sokha’s lawyer, confirmed that Investigating Judge Ky Rithy extended the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen rejected the possibility of negotiating with the former CNRP yesterday, maintaining that jailed opposition figures Kem Sokha and Um Sam An will not be pardoned, and that there would “be no second Paris peace agreement”. ...

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday published a batch of communications held with the Cambodian government since June last year, showing that the international body has voiced its concern about a range of issues from the arrest of ...

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union yesterday adopted a set of conclusions condemning “recent worrying political developments and the continuing deterioration of democracy” in Cambodia, though some politicians expressed regret about a missed opportunity to take concrete measures. The conclusions, passed by the European ...

An investigating judge has rejected Kem Sokha’s request that he interview a representative from the US government in connection with the former opposition leader’s “treason” case, despite the fact that Sokha stands accused of plotting a US-backed overthrow of the Cambodian government. ...

Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Chhim Phal Virun was questioned Tuesday morning as a witness in the “treason” charges brought against former opposition leader Kem Sokha, his former colleague at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). ...

Former opposition leader Kem Sokha was denied bail this morning by the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh, his lawyer Choung Choungy has confirmed. The hearing was held under a tight security presence, with Sokha brought in by police convoy before dawn. Human rights monitors and ...

The Human Rights Party closed yesterday of its own accord, officially removing itself from any conversation about potential challengers to the ruling party in the absence of the CNRP. The move was met with mixed responses yesterday – with some lamenting the loss of a “back-up” ...

Cambodia’s detained opposition leader Kem Sokha has declined to join a new movement, founded by prominent exiles following a ban on the main opposition party, his lawyer said on Saturday.​ ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen hit back yesterday at suggestions that he would consider postponing this year’s elections, saying they will go on as scheduled “no matter what happens” – an apparent effort to clarify his remarks in a speech the day before that an election ...

Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Chhim Phal Virun has been called as a witness in the controversial “treason” case against jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha. ...

Kem Monovithya, the daughter of jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha and a CNRP official, met with United States officials yesterday to discuss the possibility of further sanctions on the Cambodian government if measures taken in an ongoing political crackdown are not reversed. ...

​Prime Minister Hun Sen and former opposition leader Kem Sokha offered starkly divergent New Year’s messages to the Cambodian people, with the former hailing the Kingdom’s “stability” even as the latter grimly warned that recent democratic backsliding could lead to a “fragmented nation”.​ ​ ...

Radio broadcaster and former Beehive Party President Mam Sonando was served a summons last week by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to appear as a witness in relation to a “treason” case filed against former opposition President Kem Sokha. ...

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha’s lawyers yesterday boycotted the questioning of their client on “treason” charges at Trapaing Phlong Prison to protest the judge’s decision not to question him at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.​ ...

Jailed former opposition leader Kem Sokha was questioned by a judge in prison yesterday, according to his lawyers, who classified the questioning as “aggressive” and “inappropriate”. ...

With Cambodia’s former opposition leader Kem Sokha languishing in a remote jail for more than three months now, international organisations and parliamentarians have renewed their calls for his immediate release and for the reversal of the controversial dissolution of his Cambodia National Rescue Party. ...

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the legality of CNRP President Kem Sokha’s detention on widely condemned charges of “treason”, despite a team of defence lawyers laying out their arguments against his imprisonment for the first time before a court. ...

United States Senator Ted Cruz issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday, pledging to work to ban top officials from travelling to the US unless jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha is released. ...

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha, exiled former opposition leader Sam Rainsy and more than 50 human rights NGOs called on France and Indonesia to reconvene the signatories to the Paris Peace Accords yesterday amid fears that the historic treaty is in danger of being “completely ...

Anticipating popular unrest surrounding the “treason” trial of opposition leader Kem Sokha, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on Friday instructed provincial governors, police chiefs and officers to block people from travelling to the capital and to prevent any attempts at demonstrations. ...

Just two days after they first went up, some of the Cambodia National Rescue Party banners demanding the release of jailed party leader Kem Sokha are already coming down amid government objections. ...

Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy met with government officials in Australia and New Zealand this week, requesting that the two nations issue visa bans against Cambodian People’s Party officials and their families in response to the arrest of opposition head Kem Sokha for treason. ...

The Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that the ongoing detention of opposition leader Kem Sokha was legal, despite claims his parliamentary immunity had been violated – and in spite of the fact that neither the accused nor his representatives were present. ...