CORRECTED-Cambodian king pardons former opposition leader

Cambodia's king ‌has pardoned former ​opposition leader Kem Sokha for a treason conviction, just weeks after he lost an appeal to overturn that verdict, according ‌to a royal decree released on Monday. The royal decree said the pardon ⁠only applied ​to the original sentence.

Cambodia's king ‌has pardoned former ​opposition leader Kem Sokha for a treason conviction, just weeks after he lost an appeal to overturn that verdict, according ‌to a royal decree released on Monday. Kem Sokha, 72, co-founder of the defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party, has been held under house arrest since he was found guilty of treason ‌in March 2023. He was accused of conspiring with a foreign power to ‌topple then-premier Hun Sen.

Last month a court in Phnom Penh upheld his 27-year sentence and banned him from leaving the country for five years once that term ends. The royal decree said the pardon ⁠only applied ​to the original sentence. A ⁠lawyer for Kem Sokha did not immediately answer phone calls seeking comment on the pardon. Kem Sokha's case ⁠was among the most prominent in a sweeping crackdown on opponents of the Cambodian People's Party, which ​has ruled Cambodia for more than four decades.

The United States said at the ⁠time that his conviction was based on "fabricated conspiracy theories". He was among only a few remaining opposition figures ⁠in ​the Southeast Asian country, after many others fled in the wake of a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that banned the CNRP. Cambodia's government, now headed by Hun Manet, ⁠the U.S.- and British-educated son of the still influential former premier Hun Sen, denies targeting opponents ⁠and says those ⁠convicted were law-breakers.

Hun Sen, who now serves as senate president, signed the decree on behalf of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is undergoing treatment ‌for prostate cancer.