On Monday, Cambodian authorities announced a pardon for the opposition leader, 72-year-old Kem Sokha, four weeks after the courts rejected his appeal of his 27-year treason sentence handed down in 2023.

In a brief statement, Phnom Penh formalized the measure, signed by Senate President Hun Sen, acting as head of state, due to the absence of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is in China receiving treatment for prostate cancer.

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Kem Sokha, former president of the dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), was serving his sentence under house arrest in Phnom Penh, where he was already under house arrest before his trial began in 2020.

In late April, several embassies in Cambodia, including those of Australia, Germany, and the Czech Republic, along with the European Union, expressed concern over the rejection of his appeal.

“Since his arrest in 2017, Sokha has been arbitrarily detained, mistreated, and banned from voting or running for office. Cambodian authorities have continued to repress and harass the political opposition,” denounced international human rights organizations.

Sokha, barred for life from holding political office, has been prohibited from any kind of communication with the outside world and was accused of conspiring with foreigners to overthrow the government of Hun Sen, who came to power in 1985 and in 2023 transferred the country’s leadership to his son, Hun Manet.

Kem Sokha’s arrest was carried out on the orders of Hun Sen, amid a broad crackdown on the opposition, NGOs, and independent media in the months leading up to the 2018 general elections.

Following his arrest, the Cambodian National Revolutionary Party (CNRP) was outlawed, approximately 100 of its leaders fled Cambodia, several independent media outlets were shut down, and NGOs were expelled.

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