A Cambodian court on Monday sentenced a dissident radio station owner to 20 years in prison on insurrection charges that critics claim are part of a political vendetta by the government.
Judge Chaing Sinat of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said 71-year-old Mam Sonando was convicted and sentenced on four counts related to an alleged secessionist movement in eastern Cambodia. He was charged with instigating an alleged insurrection in Kratie province in May this year and inciting armed rebellion.
Mam Sonando’s Beehive Radio is one of the country’s few radio stations broadcasting criticism of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.
Din Sophanara, the wife of Mam Sonando, told reporters that the verdict will be appealed. She said her husband was not involved in the alleged rebellion and had done nothing wrong.
“There is no real democracy in Cambodia. There is no justice,” she said. Mam Sonando also was fined 10 million riel (HK$19,000).
Three other people said to have been part of a political movement with Mam Sonando and accused of being major instigators of the insurrection were also sentenced. One received a 30-year prison term and the others 15 years each.
Several dozen armed security personnel kept the road in front of the court complex closed as a few hundred supporters of Mam Sonando demonstrated nearby.