Outspoken Cambodian union leader released from jail
PHNOM PENH: An outspoken Cambodian union leader jailed for comments about the country’s border was released yesterday after a court reduced his sentence, his lawyer said.
Rong Chhun, the leader of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, was arrested in July last year after accusing the government of ‘irregularities’ over the demarcation of the eastern border with Vietnam.
Activists at the time said he had been targeted as part of premier Hun Sen’s crackdown on opposition voices.
Rong Chhun, who denies the charges against him, was sentenced to two years in jail in August.
But an appeal court on Friday reduced his prison term to time already served, his lawyer Sam Sokong told AFP.
Rong Chhun walked free on Friday evening.
The remaining sentence will be suspended for three years, Sokong said.
Four other activists, who were jailed over protests demanding his release, will also be released, he added.
The territorial dispute with Vietnam has long been a lightning rod for controversy, fuelled by strong anti-Vietnamese sentiment in Cambodia.
Opposition activists accuse Hun Sen of ceding territory to Hanoi, in a bid to whip up nationalist feeling against him.
Rong Chhun had said that a newly agreed borderline encroached on some locals’ farmland.
Hun Sen is one of the world’s longest-serving leaders and has been in power for 36 years.
Critics say he has wound back democratic freedoms and used the courts to stifle opposition.