Erin Handley | Publication date 30 January 2018 | 08:49 ICT
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Australian filmmaker James Ricketson is escorted outside of the Supreme Court earlier this month. Pha Lina
Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, who is awaiting trial on contentious “espionage” charges, had his bid for bail rejected by Cambodia’s Supreme Court this morning.
The bail decision was handed down before he arrived at the Phnom Penh court.
Ricketson was arrested in June last year after he was spotted flying a drone above an opposition party rally. If found guilty of gathering information that could undermine Cambodia’s national security with the intent to pass it on to a foreign entity, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
He has spent the past seven months at Cambodia’s notoriously overcrowded Prey Sar prison.
Ricketson was recently moved to a 16 by six-metre cell containing 140 inmates, according to family members, who are concerned for his health and well-being.
Ricketson and his lawyers have argued the spying charges are politically-driven, due to his perceived links to leading opposition party figures.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved by the Supreme Court in November after its leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested for “treason” in September.
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