Jailed Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha’s bail denied to keep him ‘safe’
Two months after his arrest the country’s main opposition political party was dissolved in a court case slammed by Western democracies as a brazen attempt to clear Hun Sen’s path to victory
Cambodia’s opposition leader Kem Sokha was denied bail on Thursday, his lawyer said, in the politician’s first appearance since being spirited away to a remote jail on treason charges five months ago.
Kem Sokha was detained in September as part of a sweeping crackdown on the opposition under premier Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who has clung onto power for 33 years and is determined to win an election in July.
Two months after his arrest Kem Sokha’s Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved in a court case slammed by Western democracies as a brazen attempt to clear Hun Sen’s path to victory in the upcoming poll.
The opposition leader has since been held in a prison near the Vietnamese border, but was driven to an appeal court in the capital Phnom Penh for Thursday’s closed-door bail hearing.
