The exiled Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been sentenced to ten years in prison by a Cambodian court for his role in an alleged plot to overturn ruler Hun Sen.
Rainsy, the co-founder of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail on a number of convictions, which he says are politically motivated.
The charges against him relate to his attempt to return to Cambodia in November 2019, when he called on people to rise up against Hun Sen – which authorities considered an attempted coup.
Around 150 opposition figures and activists have since been put on trial, charged with treason and incitement, mostly for sharing social media messages supporting Rainsy's return to Cambodia.
On Thursday, Phnom Penh Municipal Court also sentenced several other opposition figures for participating in the alleged plan to overthrown the government
Rainsy was sentenced to 25 years in Prison in March of last year on the same charges.
Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-ruling leaders, has crushed dissent by jailing opponents and activists.
Since the last general election in 2018, when Hun Sen's party won every seat in parliament, authorities have stepped up arrests of former members of the dissolved opposition party as well as human rights defenders and dissenting voices.
While many opposition leaders, like Rainsy, have left the country, the other co-founder of the PSNC, Kem Sokha, is still in Cambodia, facing charges of treason.
(with AFP)
