The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday sentenced opposition activist May Hongsreang to a year and a half in prison for incitement to commit a felony over Facebook posts criticizing government officials.
According to Hongsreang’s lawyer, the former CNRP activist was convicted over posts made about the Preah Sihanouk provincial governor after an under-construction building collapsed in June, killing 28 and injuring 26 others.
Ket Khy told VOD on Friday that the court had dropped a charge of incitement to discriminate but found his client guilty of incitement to commit a felony.
The court “focused on the issue of him talking about the Kampong Som provincial governor over the collapse of the Chinese building that caused people to die,” Khy said, using another name for Preah Sihanouk. “He said [the governor] caused people to die but was promoted to a higher-star rank. And this is the point they focused on.”