The Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutors have granted permission for former opposition leader Kem Sokha to leave his house, where he is being held, to visit his ailing mother for one hour, at his request.
According to a Facebook post by Ms. Meng Sopheary, Kem Sokha’s lawyer, Kem Sokha visited his ailing mother for one hour in a Borey in Phnom Penh on the morning of May 20. He was sent back to his home in Toul Kork after visiting his mother for 60 minutes under the supervision of Ministry of Interior officials.
Kem Sokha’s co-defendant, Mr. Pheng Heng, posted a 29-second video on his Facebook page showing Kem Sokha getting out of a police car and walking into the house to see his mother. Kem Sokha hugged his elderly mother and called out to her, who was getting weaker. Mr. Kem Sokha said, “Mom, you know that I have never persecuted anyone. If someone persecutes me, then let them do what they want. We have nothing to do with them, Mom.”
On April 30, 2026, the Phnom Penh Court of Appeals upheld the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s verdict and banned Mr. Kem Sokha, the leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, from traveling abroad for another five years.
Mr. Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity, under house arrest, and permanently stripped of his civil and political rights on March 3, 2023.
