Another witness grilled by judge in Sokha’s trial
KEO Rathana, a former programming chief for the court-dissolved CNRP radio station, was grilled on Friday for more than an hour in Kem Sokha’s treason trial.
Rathana, 31, was one of the eight witnesses summonsed for questioning last month by the trial’s investigating judge, Ky Rithy.
Talking to The Post by phone on Sunday, Rathana said all the questions were on Sokha and the work he did for the CNRP radio station.
“I was questioned on Friday for more than one hour. All the questions were about Kem Sokha’s treason charge. Some questions were about him, and some about my work with the parties and some other things.
“As a witness, if there is another summons letter, I will continue to go and clarify. But I hope that what I have already said was good enough. As a newsman, I have nothing more than news,” Rathana said.
Sokha was arrested last September at his home in Tuol Kok shortly after a 13-minute video clip was posted online in which he said the US had urged him to step aside from politics and try to effect change in the country’s leadership through the model used by Yugoslavia and Serbia.
An edited version with English subtitles and chords from John Lennon’s Imagine was swiftly released by the Press and Quick Reaction Unit as an explanation for Sokha’s arrest and the dissolution of the CNRP two months later under the pretext of fomenting a “colour revolution”.
Meng Sopheary, one of Sokha’s defence lawyers, said on Sunday the lawyers had already filed a motion at the Supreme Court regarding Sokha’s bail request but no hearing date has been decided.