Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Appeal date pushed back for Sok Hour

Appeal date pushed back for Sok Hour

Protestors outside Phnom Penh court before Hong Sok Hour's appearance in court late last year.
Protestors outside Phnom Penh court before Hong Sok Hour's appearance in court late last year. Hong Menea

Appeal date pushed back for Sok Hour

The Court of Appeal yesterday postponed a hearing for opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour after his legal team failed to appear.

Sok Hour was sentenced to seven years in prison last November after he was found guilty on charges stemming from a Facebook video in which he said a “fake” Cambodia-Vietnam border treaty showed that the post-Khmer Rouge government planned to dissolve their shared border.

He was found guilty of incitement to commit a crime as well as forgery.

At the Appeal Court yesterday, none of his five defense attorneys, nor Sok Hour himself, showed up. Presiding judge Seng Sivutha said defence lawyers had requested a postponement.

“The lawyers requested to delay the trial on January 4 for two reasons: requesting the court to call treaty experts to explain about the treaty, and connecting the internet to the court room to [show Sok Hour’s] research,” Sivutha said.

“This is a criminal case. We cannot open the hearing without the lawyers, although the request was not reasonable,” he said, adding the hearing will now take place sometime next month.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • Ministry orders all schools, public and private, to close for SEA Games

    From April 20 to May 18, all public and private educational institutions will be closed to maintain order and support Cambodia's hosting of the 32nd SEA Games and 12th ASEAN Para Games, said a directive from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. Cambodia will host the

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to