The Appeal Court yesterday upheld a two-year sentence for a man who posted a video on Facebook containing death threats against Prime Minister Hun Sen, on the grounds that he had not specifically requested a reduced sentence.

During the appeal hearing on Thursday, Ven Sopheap, 28, said he had not created the video but had wrongfully recirculated it in July last year.

Sopheap, arrested in October and sentenced in February on charges of threatening to kill and incitement to cause discrimination, said he had already served a year of his sentence and urged fellow citizens “not to follow in my footsteps”.

Appeal Court Presiding Judge Plong Samnang yesterday upheld the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s verdict “because the accused did not request to the court to reduce his sentence during the hearing”, instead only noting his time served, he said.

In the video, which bore the name of Sopheap’s “Sopheap Konkhmer” Facebook page, a voice off-screen compares a doll burning on a pyre of incense sticks to the premier, saying “the body of Hun Sen will melt like this” and calling the prime minister to step down.