Kem Sokha

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Kem Sokha

| native_name = {{nobold|កឹម សុខា}}

| native_name_lang = km

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Kem Sokha (2013).jpg

| alt =

| office = Leader of the Opposition

| term_start = 16 November 2015

| term_end = 31 January 2017

| primeminister = Hun Sen

| predecessor = Sam Rainsy

| successor = Position abolished

| office1 = First Vice President of the National Assembly

| president1 = Heng Samrin

| term_start1 = 26 August 2014

| term_end1 = 30 October 2015

| predecessor1 = Nguon Nhel

| successor1 = You Hockry

| office2 = President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party

| deputy2 = Pol Hom
Mu Sochua
Eng Chhai Eang

| term_start2 = 2 March 2017

| term_end2 = 16 November 2017

| predecessor2 = Sam Rainsy

| successor2 = None, party dissolved

| order3 = Vice President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party

| president3 = Sam Rainsy

| term_start3 = 1 April 2013

| term_end3 = 2 March 2017

| predecessor3 = Position established

| successor3 = Pol Hom
Mu Sochua
Eng Chhai Eang

| order4 = President of the Human Rights Party

| term_start4 = 22 July 2007

| term_end4 = 1 April 2013

| predecessor4 = Position established

| successor4 = Son Soubert

| deputy4 = Son Soubert
Pen Sovan

| office5 = President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights

| term_start5 = 3 October 2002

| term_end5 = 1 May 2007

| predecessor5 = Position established

| successor5 = Ou Virak

| office6 = Member of the National Assembly

| term_start6 = 24 September 2008

| term_end6 = 3 September 2017

| constituency6 = Kampong Cham

| successor6 = You Hockry

| term_start7 = 14 June 1993

| term_end7 = 26 July 1998

| constituency7 = Takéo

| office8 = Member of the Senate

| term_start8 = 1999

| term_end8 = 2002

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|6|27|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tram Kak, Takéo, Cambodia, French Indochina

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = Cambodian

| party = Cambodia National Rescue Party (2012–2017)
Human Rights Party (2007–2012)
Independent (2002–2007)
FUNCINPEC (1999–2002)
Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party (1993–1999)
Khmer People's National Liberation Front (1992–1993)

| spouse = {{marriage|Te Chanmono|28 December 1980}}

| children = 2, including Monovithya

| signature = Kem Sokha signature.png

| profession = Activist
Politician

| education = University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (M.Sc.)
Royal University of Law and Economics

| website =

| caption = Sokha in 2013

}}

Kem Sokha ({{langx|km|កឹម សុខា}}; born 27 June 1953) is a Cambodian former politician and activist who most recently served as the President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). He served as the Minority Leader, the highest-ranking opposition parliamentarian, of the National Assembly from December 2016 to January 2017, and previously as the First Vice President of the National Assembly from August 2014 to October 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/politics/kemsokha-elected-as-first-vice-president-of-Na-08252014223905.html |title=លោក កឹម សុខា ត្រូវបានបោះឆ្នោតជ្រើសរើសជាអនុប្រធានទី១សភា |trans-title=Kem Sokha elected as first vice president of National Assembly |language=km |date=26 August 2014 |work=Radio Free Asia |access-date=26 August 2014}}{{cite news |url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sokha-stripped-national-assembly-vice-presidency |title=Sokha stripped of National Assembly vice presidency |work=The Phnom Penh Post |date=30 October 2015 |access-date=30 October 2015 |archive-date=19 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619192827/https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sokha-stripped-national-assembly-vice-presidency |url-status=dead }} He represented Kampong Cham as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 2008 to 2017. From 2007 to 2012, Kem was the leader of the Human Rights Party, which he founded.

Kem was arrested and imprisoned at a detention centre in Tbong Khmum Province on 3 September 2017 under allegations of treason. In November 2017, the CNRP was dissolved, and 118 of its members, including Kem, were banned from politics for five years. On 10 September 2018, more than a year after his arrest, he was released on bail, and subsequently placed under house arrest. On 10 November 2019, Kem was released from house arrest.

In March 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to 27 years of house arrest.{{Cite news|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/3/cambodia-opposition-leader-kem-sokha-sentenced-to-27-years|title=Cambodia opposition leader Kem Sokha sentenced to 27 years|work=Al Jazeera|date=3 March 2023|accessdate=3 March 2023}}

Education

Kem Sokha has stated to Voice of America in 2018 that he pursued a law degree at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh, but dropped out in his second year before receiving a scholarship to Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) in 1981. He studied at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, and graduated with a Master of Science degree in chemistry in 1986.{{cite news |url=https://www.voacambodia.com/a/kem-sokha-in-his-own-words/4559319.html/ |title=Kem Sokha, In His Own Words |publisher=Voice of America |work=VOA Khmer |date=11 September 2018 |access-date=15 September 2018}}

Political career

File:Secretary Blinken Meets with Cambodian Opposition Leader Kem Sokha (52264313727).jpg in August 2022.]]

His political career began in 1993, when he was elected a representative for Takéo Province; at that time he was a member of Son Sann's Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party. In 1999, he joined the royalist FUNCINPEC and subsequently elected a senator. He resigned from his Senate seat in 2001. In 2002, he founded the Cambodian Center for Human Rights but left that organisation to join politics in 2005. He founded the Human Rights Party, which came third in the 2008 elections.

Kem Sokha is well known for his weekly town hall meetings at local level throughout the country. He was the first to introduce a free and open forum discussing issues concerning civic and political rights, as well as social and economic development, at village level in Cambodia. Kem Sokha is known for his non-violent, political tolerant policy standing on democratic and unity principles. His words are often quoted and repeated by ordinary Cambodians. His phrase "Do Min Do" (literal translation to English: "Change or no change") became the anthem for the Cambodia National Rescue Party's election Campaign in July 2013, which drew an unprecedented amount of youth participation. Ahead of the election he also caused significant controversy by claiming that the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum documenting crimes against humanity by the Khmer Rouge regime is a fabrication created by the Vietnamese government.{{cite news |url=https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/kem-sokha-says-s-21-was-vietnamese-conspiracy-26755/ |title=Kem Sokha Says S-21 Was Vietnamese Conspiracy |work=The Cambodia Daily |date=27 May 2013 |access-date=7 August 2024}}

On 26 August 2014, Kem was elected by the National Assembly as its First Vice President with 116 votes, the first opposition MP to hold the office. On 30 October 2015, he was ousted from the vice presidency by a vote of 68–0 following disagreements with the ruling party. On 9 September 2016, after months under house arrest, Kem was sentenced to five months in prison after refusing to appear in court for questioning in a prostitution case against him.{{cite news |url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/breaking-court-rules-kem-sokha-guilty |title=Court rules Kem Sokha guilty |work=The Phnom Penh Post |date=9 September 2016 |access-date=9 September 2016}} He was later granted a royal pardon by King Norodom Sihamoni.{{cite news |url=http://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/politics/king-pardoned-kem-sokha-as-hunsen-requested-12022016034002.html |title=ព្រះមហាក្សត្រប្រទានលើកលែងទោសប្រធានស្តីទីបក្សប្រឆាំង លោក កឹម សុខា |language=km |publisher=Radio Free Asia |date=2 December 2016 |access-date=2 December 2016}} Following his release, he was officially appointed as Minority Leader.{{cite news |url=https://www.cambodiadaily.com/brief/sokha-replace-rainsy-parliamentary-position-121546 |title=Sokha to Replace Rainsy in Parliamentary Position |work=The Cambodia Daily |date=6 December 2016 |access-date=6 December 2016 |archive-date=8 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808234220/https://www.cambodiadaily.com/brief/sokha-replace-rainsy-parliamentary-position-121546/ |url-status=dead }} However, the positions of Minority Leader and Majority Leader were abolished altogether by the National Assembly on 31 January 2017 following a proposal by Prime Minister Hun Sen.{{cite news|url=https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/culture-of-dialogue-faces-official-demise-124308/|title=Culture of Dialogue Faces Official Demise|work=The Cambodia Daily|date=31 January 2017|access-date=31 January 2017|first=Naren|last=Kuch|archive-date=2 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602134829/https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/culture-of-dialogue-faces-official-demise-124308/|url-status=dead}}

On 2 March 2017, Kem was elected president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party at the party's congress, along with three other deputies.{{cite news |url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-era-cnrp-begins |title=New era of CNRP begins |work=The Phnom Penh Post |date=3 March 2017 |access-date=3 March 2017 |author=Meas Sokchea & Erin Handley}} Under his leadership, the party made sweeping gains in the June 2017 local elections, winning 482 of 1,646 communes.{{cite news |url=https://www.voacambodia.com/a/both-sides-claim-victory-in-cambodian-commune-elections/3887547.html |title=Both Sides Claim Victory in Cambodian Commune Elections |work=Voice of America |date=5 June 2017 |access-date=6 June 2017}}

=Treason allegations=

In September 2017, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged Kem with "treason and espionage", and for allegedly orchestrating the 2014 Veng Sreng street protests.{{cite news |url=http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5081870/sokha-implicated-veng-sreng/ |publisher=The Khmer Times |quote=Prime Minister Hun Sen has promised to take legal action against opposition leader Kem Sokha for allegedly orchestrating the 2014 Veng Sreng street protests. |title=Sokha implicated over Veng Sreng |first=May |last=Titthara |date=September 7, 2017}} He was arrested at his home on September 3, 2017.{{cite news |newspaper=The Japan Times |author=Agence-France Presse |author-link=Agence-France Presse |title=Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha arrested for treason |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/09/05/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/cambodian-opposition-leader-kem-sokha-arrested-treason/ |date=September 5, 2017}} Hun Sen and other Cambodian government officials alleged that Kem was conspiring with the United States of America.{{cite news |date=September 6, 2017 |url=http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/vow-09062017165634.html |title=Cambodia's Hun Sen Vows to Lead For One More Decade |quote=Prak Sokhorn claimed that the video showed Kem Sokha had been conspiring with the U.S. since 1993 to overthrow Hun Sen and told ambassadors that the opposition leader’s video statement was deemed in flagrante delicto, allowing police to arrest him despite his parliamentary immunity. |first1=Sereyvuth |last1=Oung |translator-first=Nareth |translator-last=Muong |first2=Joshua |last2=Lipes |publisher=Radio Free Asia}} Kem's lawyers have alleged violations of their client's rights under Article 149 of the Criminal Procure Code.{{cite news |url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sokhas-lawyers-slam-lack-representation |newspaper=The Phnom Penh Post |first1=Niem |last1=Chheng |first2=Leonie |last2=Kijewski |title=Sokha's lawyers slam lack of representation |date=September 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907163404/http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sokhas-lawyers-slam-lack-representation |archive-date=September 7, 2017}} He was released on bail on 10 September 2018, more than a year after his arrest, but was placed under house arrest.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45468359 |title=Cambodia releases opposition leader Kem Sokha on bail |publisher=BBC News |work=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=10 September 2018 |access-date=10 September 2018}} He was released from house arrest on 10 November 2019 but is banned from travelling outside the country and taking part in political activities.{{cite web|url=https://www.voacambodia.com/a/breaking-news-kem-sokha-released-from-house-arrest-still-prohibited-from-leaving-the-country-and-engaging-in-political-activity/5159814.html|title=Kem Sokha Released From House Arrest, Still Prohibited From Leaving The Country And Engaging In Political Activity|publisher=VOA Cambodia|date=10 November 2019|access-date=11 November 2019}}

References

External links

{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190826090001/http://kemsokha.info/ Kem Sokha]}}
[http://www.facebook.com/kemsokha Kem Sokha on Facebook]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080616022701/http://www.hrpcambodia.com/ Human Rights Party]
[http://www.nationalrescueparty.org Cambodia National Rescue Party]
[http://cchrcambodia.org/ CCHR – Cambodian Center for Human Rights website]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060419194000/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10960823/site/newsweek/ Newsweek article]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4572208.stm Cambodia arrests rights activist, Guy De Launey, BBC, Phnom Penh]
[http://www.aseanhrmech.org/ Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism]
[http://www.vscht.cz/homepage/english/main Institute of Chemical Technology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140829102556/http://www.vscht.cz/homepage/english/main |date=2014-08-29 }}
[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/international/asia/09cambodia.html Cambodian Leader Cracks Down in Bid to Solidify Power—New York Times]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20121107095249/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101508.html/ BBC: While in U.S., Cambodians Get a Lesson on Rights From Home]
[http://www.cchrcambodia.org Cambodian Center for Human Rights]