Cambodian Opposition Leader Gets 27 Years on Treason Charge

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FILE - Cambodia National Rescue Party's President Kem Sokha, center, speaks to journalists before heading to the court in his house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Jan. 19, 2022. Kem Sokha, Cambodia's most prominent opposition politician not in exile, is scheduled Friday, March 3, 2023, to hear the verdict in his trial for treason, for which he was arrested in 2017 as part of a government crackdown on the opposition. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
FILE - Cambodia National Rescue Party's President Kem Sokha, center, speaks to journalists before heading to the court in his house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Jan. 19, 2022. Kem Sokha, Cambodia's most prominent opposition politician not in exile, is scheduled Friday, March 3, 2023, to hear the verdict in his trial for treason, for which he was arrested in 2017 as part of a government crackdown on the opposition. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A court in Cambodia on Friday found Kem Sokha, leader of the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, guilty of treason and sentenced him to 27 years imprisonment to be served under house arrest.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court said he had colluded with a foreign power from 2010 until his arrest in September 2017. It said he had one month to file an appeal against its ruling.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved shortly after his 2017 arrest on related charges.

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By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK Associated Press
Peck reported from Bangkok.