Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced Wednesday it will hand down its verdict against opposition leader Sam Rainsy on September 23, who is accused of faking border maps showing alleged Vietnamese territorial encroachments.

During a heated four-hour hearing on Wednesday lawyers for both sides faced off over allegations the opposition leader spread disinformation and falsified public documents by releasing maps showing Vietnamese border posts encroaching on Cambodian territory earlier this year.

Government lawyer Ky Tech pressed his case that the Sam Rainsy Party president, who is currently living in self-imposed exile in Europe, was guilty of using the maps to “deceive” local and international opinion.

“He has affected Cambodia’s reputation... and affected Cambodian-Vietnamese cooperation on the demarcation of their border,” Ky Tech said.

Rainsy has already been handed a two-year sentence this year for uprooting border post on the border in January and if found guilty on both the new counts, faces up to 18 more years in prison… read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.