By Sopheng Cheang | AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A Cambodian appeals court on Thursday upheld a seven-year prison sentence given to an opposition senator for comments on his Facebook page criticizing a 1979 border agreement with neighboring Vietnam.

 

The lawyer for Hong Sok Hour said that because of poor health, his client did not appear in court for the hearing that rejected his appeal. Hong Sok Hour was found guilty in November 2015 of falsifying public documents, using fake documents and inciting chaos. His defense had been that he merely reposted documents he found online that turned out to contain inaccurate translations.

 

The case marked the beginning of a concerted campaign by Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party to cripple opposition politicians by using the courts to get them into legal trouble. The two top leaders of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party were later targets, with its chief, Sam Rainsy, effectively marginalized with a threat to imprison him on an old conviction keeping him in self-imposed exile. He was eventually forced to resign from his party because his legal troubles put it at risk of dissolution under a new law.

 

read more https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/cambodian-court-upholds-prison-term-for-opposition-senator/2017/06/29/f6d896ec-5ca8-11e7-aa69-3964a7d55207_story.html?utm_term=.e74fa864b078

 

 

Oppose hun sen at your peril !