Cambodia’s former opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was serving a 27-year sentence for treason, has been pardoned, the country’s former prime minister said.
Hun Sen, who is currently Cambodia’s acting head of state, signed a decree pardoning his political rival on behalf of King Norodom Sihamoni.
Sokha, the former leader of the now-dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), was first arrested in 2017 over a video where he said he had received support from US pro-democracy groups.
He has been held under house arrest since he was found guilty of treason in 2023. The charges have been widely derided as politically motivated by human rights groups.
Hun Sen posted on Facebook that Sokha had been “pardoned”, alongside a photo of the royal decree signed by him.
The pardon came after an appeal against Sokha’s sentence was rejected last month. But it did not include overturning a ban on the politician leaving Cambodia for five years.
Sokha’s CNRP party came close to securing a shock victory in the 2013 general election victory over Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) despite accusations of vote-rigging and intimidation.
As the next election approached, Sokha’s party was the only viable threat to Hun Sen’s rule.
The opposition leader was arrested in 2017, less than a year ahead of the crucial vote, which the CNRP was eventually banned from contesting, making Cambodia a de facto one-party state.
His arrest coincided with a crackdown on government critics.
Credit: bbc.com
