More Incitement Cases Brought Against Two Government Critics

[geovalin]

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court brought another incitement case against two government critics to trial on Friday, accusing them of spreading misinformation on social media and trying to incite chaos with Facebook posts criticizing Covid-19 lockdowns and Prime Minister Hun Sen. The two defendants, Meas Leakhena and Kay Sophy, were not present in the court Friday.

 

Leakhena is already facing a separate court case related to other alleged Facebook comments about exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy. The court clerk said police had sent letters to the defendants to join the trial but had not received responses; Sophy lives in Germany and Leakhena lives in the Philippines.

 

Without the defendants, Friday’s proceedings lasted under an hour and included judge Seng Socheat, a prosecutor and three officials from the anti-terrorism police. Chan Darith, director of an office of the anti-terrorism unit, told the court that police had monitored the defendants’ Facebook posts closely last year.

 

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