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The Supreme Courtroom on Friday upheld the incitement conviction of former labor union chief and Nation Energy Social gathering adviser Rong Chhun, however suspended his four-year jail sentence and positioned him beneath judicial supervision for 3 years.
Chhun was convicted by a Phnom Penh courtroom in Might 2025 of incitement to disturb social order over public feedback about on-line rip-off operations in Cambodia and the nation’s border with Vietnam. He was sentenced to 4 years in jail, fined 4 million riel ($1,000) and stripped of his rights to vote and run for workplace. His imprisonment was suspended pending attraction, although he remained beneath courtroom supervision.
The Supreme Courtroom additionally lowered a lifetime ban on Chhun’s political rights to 5 years. In the course of the three-year supervision interval, he’s barred from leaving Phnom Penh or attending public gatherings.
“This determination could be very unjust and there may be nonetheless no nationwide reconciliation and nationwide unity,” Chhun advised reporters outdoors the courtroom.
“We can’t settle for the consequence. We hoped to be free to take part in elections and assist promote the repute of our nation, however that hope has failed,” he mentioned.
A whole lot of supporters gathered outdoors the Supreme Courtroom for the decision. The same crowd turned out for a remaining listening to on Monday, when supporters mentioned authorities restricted their entry to the courtroom.
“I’m very upset that the courtroom prosecuted him. It is extremely unjust as a result of he has by no means harmed the pursuits of the nation,” supporter Tep Youri, who traveled from Battambang province, mentioned.
“The courtroom has now suppressed him by seizing his house,” she mentioned, including that the ruling would draw worldwide criticism.
Chhun’s lawyer, Em Chantha, referred to as the Supreme Courtroom’s determination unacceptable however mentioned the discount in jail time was optimistic.
Chhun, his supporters and rights teams have referred to as the case politically motivated. His conviction is a part of a broader crackdown on opposition figures and events in recent times because the Cambodian Folks’s Social gathering has consolidated its grip on energy after greater than 4 a long time of rule.
The ruling comes amid restricted authorized concessions for different opposition figures focused by the courts. Kem Sokha, former chief of the now-dissolved Cambodia Nationwide Rescue Social gathering, acquired a partial pardon final month that ended his 27 years of home arrest on a treason conviction, however left intact his lifetime ban from politics and a five-year ban on international journey.
Chhun was beforehand convicted of incitement in 2021 over feedback suggesting {that a} group alongside the Vietnam border had misplaced land throughout frontier demarcation. He served greater than 15 months in jail.
In April 2025, the Phnom Penh Capital Courtroom ordered the seizure of his property, together with his house in Phnom Penh, over a 400 million riel ($100,000) damages high-quality stemming from the 2021 conviction.
