{"id":20947,"date":"2026-05-25T19:17:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/cambodian-king-pardons-former-opposition-leader\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T19:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:17:41","slug":"cambodian-king-pardons-former-opposition-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/cambodian-king-pardons-former-opposition-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambodian king pardons former opposition leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHNOM PENH, May 25 — Cambodia’s king has pardoned former opposition leader Kem Sokha ‌for a treason conviction, just weeks after he lost an appeal to overturn that verdict, according to a royal decree released today. Kem Sokha, 72, co-founder of the defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party, has been held under house arrest since he was found guilty of treason in March 2023. He was accused of conspiring with a foreign power to topple then-premier Hun Sen.<\/p>\n

Last month a court in Phnom Penh upheld his 27-year sentence and banned him from leaving the country for five years once that term ‌ends. The royal decree said the pardon only ⁠applied to the original sentence.<\/p>\n

A ⁠lawyer for Kem Sokha did not ⁠immediately answer phone calls seeking ⁠comment on ⁠the pardon. Kem Sokha’s case was among the most prominent in a sweeping crackdown on opponents of the Cambodian ⁠People’s Party, which has ruled Cambodia for more than four decades.<\/p>\n

The United States said at the time that his conviction was based on “fabricated conspiracy theories”.<\/p>\n

He was among only a few remaining opposition figures in the Southeast Asian ⁠country, after many others fled in the wake of a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that banned the CNRP. Cambodia’s ⁠government, now headed by Hun Manet, the US.- and British-educated ⁠son ⁠of the still influential former premier Hun Sen, denies targeting opponents and says those convicted were law-breakers.<\/p>\n

Hun Manet signed the decree ‌on behalf of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. — Reuters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cambodian king pardons former opposition leader<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PHNOM PENH, May 25 — Cambodia’s king has pardoned former opposition leader Kem Sokha ‌for a treason conviction, just weeks after he lost an appeal to overturn that verdict, according to a royal decree released today. Kem Sokha, 72, co-founder of the defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party, has been held under house arrest since he…<\/p>\n

Read More “Cambodian king pardons former opposition leader”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}