PHNOM PENH -- A Cambodian appeals court has upheld a seven-year prison sentence given to an opposition senator for comments on his Facebook page criticizing a 1979 border agreement with neighbouring Vietnam.
The lawyer for Hong Sok Hour said that because of poor health, his client did not appear in court Thursday for the hearing that rejected his appeal.
Hong Sok Hour was found guilty in November 2015 of falsifying public documents, using fake documents and inciting chaos. His defence had been that he reposted documents he found online that turned out to contain inaccurate translations.
The case against him marked the beginning of a concerted campaign by Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party to cripple opposition politicians by using the courts to get them into legal trouble.