(Phnom Penh) A Cambodian court on Friday sentenced opposition leader Kem Sokha to 27 years in prison in a treason case that rights groups say is politically motivated.
“Kem Sokha […] is sentenced to 27 years in prison for collusion with foreigners in Cambodia and elsewhere,” Judge Koy Sao told the Phnom Penh court.
An opposition figure and co-founder of the now dissolved National Salvation Party of Cambodia (PSNC), he has always contested the charges.
After the verdict, Kem Sokha was immediately taken from the courtroom to his home, where he will be under house arrest and prohibited from meeting anyone except his family members.
The court also stripped him of the right to vote and barred him from running for political office.
Kem Sokha, 69, was arrested in September 2017, accused of trying to overthrow the government of Hun Sen, in power since 1985.
Critics say Hun Sen — Asia’s longest-serving leader — has rolled back democratic freedoms and used the courts to stifle dissent, jailing scores of activists and human rights defenders.