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A Cambodian court convicted 13 people yesterday of plotting to overthrow the government.
The 13, seven of whom appeared in a Phnom Penh court, were linked to a little-known group the Denmark-based Khmer National Liberation Front said judge Seng Neang.
He sentenced all 13, including six in absentia, to jail terms of between five and nine years for planning to topple the government.
The judge said the exile group had set up an armed force based in neighbouring Thailand, distributed anti-government leaflets and planned to plant bombs.
But observers disagreed. “This was all about using a tiny exile group to try to smear the broader movement of opposition to the CPP and Hun Sen — and these long prison sentences are indicative of that,” said Human Rights Watch spokesman Phil Robertson.
And Minority Rights Organisation director Ang Chanrith questioned the blanket assertion that the group promoted violence.
