Cambodia’s exiled opposition leader sentenced again
PHNOM PENH: Former Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison on Thursday for slander and incitement, after claiming that the murder of a prominent political analyst was politically motivated.
The decision, handed down by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court,saw Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile in France, sentenced in absentia and fined 10 million riel ($2,497).
He was also instructed by the court to make a token payment of 100 riel to Minister Hun Sen.
In a Facebook post from last August, Rainsy called the killing of analyst Kem Ley at a Phnom Penh gas station a month earlier”state-backed terrorism,” according to the Phnom Penh Post.
The legal action against Rainsy was brought by current Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985 and is oneof the world’s longest-serving leaders.
The verdict is not the end of the 68-year-old’s legal battles however, as he is facing a number of other lawsuits brought by members of the longruling Cambodian People’s Party.
He stepped down from his position as head of the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party on February 11 and has been living in France since November 2015.
Thursday also marked the twentieth anniversary of a grenade attack that nearly killed Rainsy when he was speaking at a political rally in Phnom Penh.
Sixteen people died in the attack, including Rainsy’s bodyguard who shielded him from the blast.
In a seven and a half minute video posted on Facebook on Thursday, Rainsy discussed the attack and linked it to six other political assassinations over the past 25 years.
He mentioned Kem Ley, alongside slain union leaders Chea Vichea, Ros Sovannarith and Hy Vuthy.
“We have to remember the heroes and heroines for their sacrifice and for the sake of democracy and justice,” Rainsy said.
He also said that the circumstances surrounding the 1997 grenade attack, like most other assassinations, had never been solved. Oueth Ang, the man who shot Ley, is now serving a life sentence but many questions still remain about the case, including how, as a labourer, he acquired $1,286 to buy a handgun.