PM Hun Sen meets top opposition figure

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has had a face-to-face meeting with a top opposition figure whose political party was dissolved after he was charged with treason.

The rare meeting occurred when Kem Sokha, who headed the Cambodia National Rescue Party, paid his respects at Hun Sen's residence for the death of the prime minister's mother-in-law.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the two men met Tuesday afternoon but had not talked about political issues or Kem Sokha's ongoing trial.

Fresh News reported the two men talked for 50 minutes.

Kem Sokha's lawyer, Meng Sopheary, confirmed the meeting but declined to say what the men discussed.

Although the meeting was said to be non-political, the coverage by the pro-government Fresh News, which shows both parties in a flattering light, is likely to fuel talk of some kind of reconciliation.

Hun Sen, who has been in power for 35 years, is an adroit political operator who has a history of allowing his once-bitter opponents to operate if they don't pose a serious threat to him.

Kem Sokha was head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party when he was arrested in September 2017 on the basis of an old video showing him at a seminar where he spoke about receiving advice from U.S. pro-democracy groups.

His popular party was duly dissolved by Cambodia's Supreme Court in November 2017. The actions were widely seen as a way to ensure a victory by Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party in the 2018 general election.

Hun Sen's party swept all the seats in the National Assembly in the polls, but drew condemnation from human rights groups and Western nations, which charged that the election was neither free nor fair.

Kem Sokha's trial started in January, but adjourned in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak. He could be imprisoned for up to 30 years if found guilty.

The courts late last year allowed Kem Sokha to be freed on bail after a period of tightly restricted house arrest, but he is still banned from political activity.

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