Gov‘t ​Lawyers File Further 'Evidence' Against Opposition, Ask Judge to Ban CNRP Officials From Politics

Lawyers for the interior ministry have asked the Supreme Court to ban more than 100 opposition political figures from politics for five years as part of a ruling due on Thursday.

The court is due to issue a decision in a case against the Cambodia National Rescue Party on Thursday, which is expected to lead to the party’s dissolution.

The CNRP president, Kem Sokha, is facing treason charges for alleged involvement in a conspiracy of sedition against the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

On Monday, four lawyers for the ministry, led by Ky Tech, Hun Sen’s lawyer, told reporters after leaving the court that the group had supplied additional evidence that the CNRP officials had been involved in an attempt to foment a “color revolution” in Cambodia in the lead up to and aftermath of the 2013 general election.

He said the lawyers supplied the court with 26 pieces of evidence, including photos, videos, messages and documents, which suggested the CNRP had broken the law.

“The evidence is clear and strong. There is plenty of it. Lawyers can judge that it is almost 100 percent certain that the Supreme Court will dissolve the CNRP,” Tech said.

The case against the CNRP was filed on October 6 after a complaint was made by the Funcinpec party, which stands to gain significant numbers of seats in parliament if the CNRP is dissolved.

Son Chhay, a senior CNRP lawmaker, said the move to ban the opposition officials from politics was “unreasonable”.

“The loss of citizens’ representatives will cause anger from citizens and they will lose the option to choose their representatives,” he said. “It is the opposite of democracy as mentioned in the constitution.”

On Monday, Interior Minister Sar Kheng wrote to provincial governors across the country asking them to mobilize against “tricks to topple Cambodia’s legal government”.

In the letter, he said they should “monitor and solve immediate problems in both provinces and cities” and “allocate your team to monitor and solve any problem relating to trickery to topple the government.”