"Supreme Court Building in Phnom Penh" by Ankur Panchbudhe is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The Supreme Court this morning denied bail to opposition leader Thach Setha, upholding the decision of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Thach Setha is the vice president of the Candlelight Party and was charged with incitement to commit a felony and incitement to discriminate under Articles 494, 495, and 496 of the Criminal Code in April 2023. The charges stemmed from comments made to Cambodian migrant workers abroad, and he was ordered to be held in pretrial detention.

The 70-year-old opposition leader appealed, arguing that judicial supervision conditions would be sufficient and that his health conditions could not be adequately treated in prison. However, the order of pretrial detention was upheld by the Appeal Court in May 2023.

Today, the Supreme Court also rejected Setha’s arguments. Setha has been detained since 16 January 2023 on charges of irregular financial payments in a separate case dating back to 2019.

Last month, the Candlelight Party was disqualified from participating in the upcoming July 2023 National Election by the National Election Committee on the basis that the party had submitted photocopies of a set of required documents, rather than the originals, during the registration process. The decision to disqualify the primary opposition party was upheld by the Constitutional Council.