Sam Rainsy sentenced to 8 years in prison for insulting King

[geovalin]

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced in-absentia former opposition leader Sam Rainsy to a total of eight years in prison for demoralising the armed forces and insulting King Norodom Sihamoni. Mr Rainsy, who live in exile in France, called on the armed forces to disobey orders to kill civilians in 2017. He also called an election letter written by King Sihamoni as “fake or written under duress”.

Judge Ros Piseth said Mr Rainsy insulted the monarchy and incited soldiers to disobey orders. “The court has decided to sentence defendant Sam Rainsy to four years in prison and be fined 10 million riels [about $2,500],” Judge Piseth said. “I order police to arrest and imprison him.”

He also sentenced Mr Rainsy to four years in prison for insulting King Sihamoni for calling the royal election letter fake or written under duress prior to last year’s general election. Mr Rainsy, who is a fierce government critic, is currently facing a slew of legal troubles in the Kingdom.

 

read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50600371/municipal-court-finds-sam-rainsy-guilty-in-two-cases/

[Pique Dard]

lol! mr rainsy can sleep well and quietly as france would never extradite him

[KhunFred]

Interesting that Cambodia has elected to follow Thailand's example in enforcing Lese Majeste laws.  A very potent tool for authoritarian regimes to have their way.

[Tropposurfer]

Long live freedom of speech ... even if its something I dislike everyone has a right to speak their mind and convictions.

[phycokiller]

On 5/3/2019 at 7:25 PM, KhunFred said:

Interesting that Cambodia has elected to follow Thailand's example in enforcing Lese Majeste laws.  A very potent tool for authoritarian regimes to have their way.

I note that nobody asked the king if what he said was true or not. I think the difference is, in thailand the king runs the show, in cambodia the dictator runs everything including the king