Cambodia’s Supreme Court has upheld a six-year jail term imposed on Theary Seng, a prominent Christian and pro-democracy advocate who was jailed for treason after backing former opposition leader Sam Rainsy and the outlawed Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP).
“I think this was unfair for my client,” her defense lawyer, Choung Chou Ngy, who filed the motion to appeal in August, said after the decision.
Judge Kong Srim ordered that Theary Seng remain in prison after the Supreme Court agreed with the lower court’s verdict, adding her release would affect public order.
Theary Seng, whose work includes editing the Khmer version of the Bible, was among more than 120 people charged in three mass trials that followed Sam Rainsy’s failed bid to return to Cambodia in late 2019 when he promised to oust Prime Minister Hun Sen.
She was one of more than 50 CNRP activists convicted and jailed in June and was moved from a prison in Phnom Penh to another in Preah Vihear, in the remote north, after prison officers lodged complaints saying that she could incite other female prisoners.
“This regime will not let me go free,” she said ahead of the June verdict. “It will be an unfair and unjust verdict, because I am innocent, the others charged with me are innocent. But we are living in a dictatorship.”
Theary Seng was barred from entering the courtroom to hear her own verdict because she was dressed as the Statue of Liberty. Instead, she was arrested outside the court and jailed.
Four weeks ago an appeals court declined to grant Theary Seng – a Cambodian-American dual citizen – a request for release while her appeal was being heard.
“Given the circumstances, Theary is holding up quite well,” a close relative, who declined to be named, told UCA News recently. “She’s in good shape.”
Two more mass trials have since been launched while the marathon treason trial of former leader Kem Sokha continues amid claims by human rights groups the courts were being used to silence the government’s critics.
On Wednesday, Kem Sokha told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court that he was not involved with the Serbian-based Centre for Applied Non-violent Action and Strategies (Canvas) which the court claimed had trained 15 CNRP activists with “color revolutionary” strategies.
The CNRP was dissolved by the courts in late 2017 amid claims it was attempting to topple the government through a color revolution.
A crackdown on dissent followed and the long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won all 125 seats contested at national elections in July, the following year.
But the crackdown escalated dramatically after Sam Rainsy – who led the CNRP jointly with Kem Sokha – threatened to return from self-imposed exile in November 2019.
Hundreds of his supporters have been rounded up since then and jailed.