Candlelight Vice President Thach Setha participates in party rally in June 2022 in Phnom Penh.

The Supreme Court upheld the incitement conviction of Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha, who was sentenced to three years in prison by a lower court for a speech he gave to the opposition party’s supporters in South Korea last year.

Setha has now exhausted his appeals after the Supreme Court upheld a Phnom Penh Capital Court verdict from October 2023 that found him guilty of incitement to commit a felony and incitement to discriminate under Articles 494, 495 and 496 of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a four million riel fine (around US$1,000).

The Candlelight vice president visited South Korea in January 2023 where he spoke to workers and criticized the celebration of the 7 January holiday. The day marks the toppling of the Khmer Rouge regime, and some opposition members use the day to criticise the Vietnamese government’s presence in Cambodia throughout the 1980s.

The Supreme Court in May upheld another guilty verdict against Setha, this time in a case involving the charge of irregular financial payments. Setha was accused of writing bad cheques to a pawn shop and ordered to pay back the debt and compensation to the pawnshop, serve an 18-month prison sentence and pay a fine.