RFA
A court in Cambodia on Monday began the trials of five detained opposition activists and their party’s acting chief, drawing around 100 supporters who demanded that authorities drop charges human rights groups have dismissed as “politically motivated.”
Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) acting president Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in Paris, was tried by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in absentia for “falsifying information” regarding the death of former National Police Commissioner-General Hok Lundy and “incitement” for calling on the public to default on microfinance loans amid the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Sam Rainsy had tried to return on Nov. 9, 2019 to lead nonviolent protests against Prime Minister Hun Sen, urging Cambodian migrant workers abroad and members of the military to join him. However, his plan to enter Cambodia from Thailand was thwarted when he was refused permission to board a Thai Air