Exiled politicians accused of incitement to commit felony and plotting treason after announcing plans to return.

Mu Sochua says Prime Minister Hun Sen is 'taking Cambodia to a really dark place' [Frank Augstein/AP]
Mu Sochua says Prime Minister Hun Sen is ‘taking Cambodia to a really dark place’ [Frank Augstein/AP]

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – A court has issued arrest warrants for top Cambodian opposition politicians living abroad, as the exiled activists began preparations to return to the country.

Sam Rainsy, the founder of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was one of the politicians accused of incitement to commit a felony and plotting to commit treason. Warrants were also issued for CNRP vice-presidents Mu Sochua and Eng Chhay Eang as well as five others.

The CNRP was controversially dissolved in 2017 on accusations of trying to overthrow the Cambodian government, despite virtually no evidence to support such a claim, say activists. CNRP cofounder and then-president Kem Sokha was arrested for treason on similarly flimsy pretenses.

The pre-election banishment allowed the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win what was essentially an uncontested election, garnering all 125 seats in the National Assembly and extending Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 33-year grip on power.

“Hun Sen is taking Cambodia to a really dark place,” Sochua said in a recent interview with Al Jazeera.

Read the full article on Al Jazeera.