Kem Sokha leaves the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 29 June 2022. His trial consisted of 66 hearings over more than three years.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court this morning convicted Kem Sokha, the former President of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), of treason and conspiracy with a foreign power under Articles 439 and 443 of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison, and immediately transferred to house arrest after being escorted from the courtroom by five police and security officers. His conviction comes less than five months prior to Cambodia’s 2023 National Election.

The court also ordered the permanent removal of Kem Sokha’s political rights to stand for or vote in an election as an additional penalty under Article 450 of the Criminal Code. The judgment stated that the level of damages is pending assessment, which is likely in relation to a civil action that may be filed in accordance with Article 22 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The Municipal Court this morning also ordered the issuance of a detention order and arrest warrant, effective immediately, under Article 353 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In consideration of the 69-year-old’s health and continued cooperation throughout the trial, the judge ordered that Kem Sokha be under house arrest and judicial supervision until the conviction is final, pending appeal. Full judicial supervision conditions were not specified, but include a prohibition against Kem Sokha meeting anybody other than his immediate family in person or online without the court’s permission. Police were also granted full authority to monitor, inspect and perform all acts as needed to enforce this judicial supervision.

The parties will receive the full verdict, but details of all foreign supporters and actors will remain secret in perpetuity according to the court.

Kem Sokha was arrested following a midnight raid at his home on 3 September 2017, just two months after the July 2017 Commune Elections – an arrest deemed legal by the Municipal Court in today’s ruling. He was detained at the remote Correctional Centre 3 in Tbong Khmum province for over one year.

Following the arrest, the Supreme Court forcibly dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 and ordered a five-year ban on political activities for 118 party officials. The party had been founded in July 2012, when the political parties led by Sam Rainsy (the Sam Rainsy Party) and Kem Sokha (the Human Rights Party, founded in 2007) merged ahead of the 2013 National Election.

Although Kem Sokha was released on bail on 10 September 2018, he was subject to de facto house arrest under judicial supervision conditions. He was prevented from leaving a small area around his home, meeting with “foreigners” or CNRP officials, or conducting any political activities. Those restrictions, including the house arrest, were eased in November 2019, but he remained prohibited from engaging in political activities or leaving the country.

The five-year ban on political activities for the 118 officials expired in November 2022. Some CNRP leaders fled the country and have been denied re-entry to Cambodia, remaining in exile. Since November 2020, 158 former CNRP leaders, members and alleged supporters have been charged in five separate mass trials, and 79 former CNRP members have been convicted, many in absentia. One mass trial of 78 defendants has yet to be scheduled.

The case against Kem Sokha was presented over the course of 66 hearings spanning more than three years. It argued that his political activities; public statements and associations; the foundation of a human rights NGO; and other activities over a 24-year period (from 1993 to 2017) were committed with the support of an unidentified foreign power, and with the intention to create a colour revolution to overthrow the Cambodian government.

Key evidence presented against the opposition leader were his statements in a 2013 speech to supporters in Melbourne, Australia in which he spoke about studying grassroots democracy in the United States and receiving advice on how to change leaders, referencing the public protests that ultimately forced out Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević.

Significant attention was also given to Kem Sokha’s speeches and the CNRP’s organisation leading up to the July 2013 National Election, as well as public demonstrations calling for reforms to the National Election Committee after the elections, which were based on reports of irregularities.

Violence along Veng Sreng Boulevard in the capital in January 2014 – where authorities opened fire on striking factory workers – was described by the prosecution and civil party lawyers for the government as an attempted colour revolution. A series of 2016 public protests known as “Black Monday” held in response to the arrest and detention of five human rights defenders were also characterised as being surreptitiously organised by the CNRP as a second attempt at a colour revolution.

Summonsed witnesses who joined the trial, including the current director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), were questioned about Kem Sokha’s interactions with “foreigners”, funding for CCHR, and participation in workshops on election monitoring and nonviolent demonstration.

Throughout the trial, the former CNRP president broadly defended himself as promoting nonviolence and seeking change through democratic processes. Defence lawyers questioned the legality of Kem Sokha’s arrest and objected to evidence on several bases, including that it lacked a connection to him; was protected speech; or could not be considered because it took place before 2009, when Cambodia’s Criminal Code entered into force.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council condemned the arrest and detention of Kem Sokha as arbitrary and in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in a decision dated April 2018. The working group also stated that the criminal charges against him were impermissible restrictions on his rights to freedom of opinion and expression.

In June 2019, the working group issued a statement along with three UN special rapporteurs which expressed concern over his house arrest, noting that he essentially remained in detention and this exceeded the maximum 180-day limit for pre-trial detention under Article 208 of Cambodia’s Code of Criminal Procedure.

The treason trial did not begin until 15 January 2020, and was halted for almost two years during the Covid-19 pandemic. The trial resumed on 19 January 2022, and after 66 hearings, closing arguments were delivered in a marathon 11-hour session on 21 December 2022. Throughout that 11-hour hearing, Kem Sokha was allowed only a few minutes for comments.

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