Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha has appealed his 27-year prison sentence for treason, his lawyers said Thursday, denouncing an "
unfair
" verdict.
"
He appealed the verdict because it is unfair
," Meng Sopheary, one of Kem Sokha's lawyers, told AFP.
The opponent "
refused to accept this unjust sentence which deprived him of many rights
", in particular political, insisted Ang Udom, another of his advisers.
Accusation of foreign conspiracies
Kem Sokha (69), sentenced in early March to 27 years behind bars, was accused of conspiring with foreign agents to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen's government.
He was placed under house arrest, with the prohibition to meet anyone, except members of his family.
The co-founder of the now disbanded Cambodian National Salvation Party (PSNC) has always denied the charges against him.
Human rights groups have denounced a political verdict, aiming to exclude him from the national election scheduled for July, in which candidate Hun Sen, in power for more than 38 years.
strong man from cambodia
The strongman of Cambodia, accused by international observers of having rolled back fundamental freedoms and of using justice to suppress any voice of protest, boasted Thursday of his longevity in office.
“
I first broke the record for youngest prime minister 38 years ago.
Now I have broken another record, that of the longest serving prime minister in the world
,” he said at a graduation ceremony.
Two months after Kem Sokha was arrested in 2017, the Cambodian Supreme Court dissolved his party, the PSNC, then considered a strong opponent to defeat Hun Sen's movement.
Without strong opposition, the 2018 election was a tidal wave for the ruling party, which won all seats in the National Assembly
