Cambodia charges 10 men with conspiring treason: police spokesman

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian court has charged 10 suspects, who were arrested here last week, with conspiring treason that could face up to ten years in prison if convicted, a National Police spokesman said Sunday.

The ten men were apprehended on Wednesday and Thursday last week in Phnom Penh with evidence to prove that they were members of the Khmer National Liberation Front (KNLF), an anti-government movement, National Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Kirt Chantharith said at a press conference.

"Our authorities seized KNLF's 770 flags and 461 anti- government pamphlets from those suspects during the raids," he said. "Moreover, those suspects have assignment letters from the KNLF."

Chantharith said the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has charged them with conspiring treason, which is a crime that could lead to imprisonment between five and ten years under the country's criminal code.

He said the Denmark-based KNLF was founded in December, 2012 by fugitive Sam Serei and his accomplices.

"The group has a plot to overthrow the legitimate Cambodian government through forming illegal armed forces, sending spies to key military locations, distributing anti-government leaflets, and training illegal armed forces along Thai border," he said.

In April, a Cambodian court convicted 13 KNLF men of treason for forming illegal armed forces and sentenced them between five and nine years in prison. Only seven of the convicts have been serving their jail terms since the others had fled the country.