PHNOM PENH - An outspoken Cambodian opposition politician appeared in court Friday for questioning on new charges, the latest in a series of legal cases brought by the authorities against dissenting voices. Rong Chhun, an adviser to the Nation Power Party, which was founded last year, faces up to six years in prison if he is convicted of new charges which include “incitement to disturb social stability”.
Rong Chhun said the allegations against him relate to his meetings with victims of land disputes, and his interview about Prime Minister Hun Manet’s recent visit to the border area with Vietnam. A judge granted him bail but he was banned from attending political rallies and travelling overseas among other conditions, Rong Chhun told reporters after the hearing. “I lost some freedom,” he said. The incitement charge is frequently used by Cambodian authorities against activists. Several dozen supporters and party members gathered outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and cheered when they saw Rong Chhun leave the building. “It is repression and a limitation of my freedom to participate in political activities,” Rong Chhun, a former vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party, told reporters before entering the courtroom. Police set up barricades around the court, preventing journalists and supporters from approaching the entrance. Rong Chhun was previously arrested in 2020 after accusing the government of “irregularities” in the demarcation of Cambodia’s eastern border with Vietnam. He was sentenced to two years in jail in August 2021 but was released three months later by an appeal court, with the remaining sentence suspended for three years.