CPP spokesman and former Kem Sokha colleague questioned

Niem Chheng | Publication date 06 February 2018 | 13:59 ICT

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CPP spokesman Chhim Phal Virun speaks to reporters today after being questioned by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in relation to former opposition leader Kem Sokha's "treason" case. Pha Lina

Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Chhim Phal Virun was questioned this morning in relation to “treason” charges brought against former opposition President Kem Sokha, his former colleague at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR).

Sokha has been held in a Tbong Khmum prison since his midnight arrest in September on widely condemned charges of “treason.” The arrest was orchestrated after the release of a 2013 video in which Sokha says in a speech that he received advice from the United States to plan his political career.

Phal Virun was questioned for close to three hours today, and afterwards declined to give details. He did say the investigating judge focused on his relationship with Sokha when the two worked at CCHR, where Phal Virun was Sokha's deputy.

“He only asked about issues relating to the work at CCHR and the crime [of Kem Sokha]," he said.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved by a Supreme Court decision in November for allegedly plotting a so-called “colour revolution”. Many of the party's former lawmakers and commune officials have fled the country for fear of arrest and intimidation as Sokha awaits trial.