Cambodian Appeals Court Drops Insurrection Charges Against Radio Station Owner

Mam Sonando released from prison

Cambodian activist Mam Sonando will be released from prison this week after his 20-year jail sentence was suspended on Thursday by a court in Phnom Penh, a decision hailed by rights groups as a positive step for freedom of expression in the country.

The activist and owner of Beehive Radio, one of Cambodia's few independent media outlets, was found guilty in October last year of leading a secessionist plot in Kratie province, where villagers had been protesting against evictions for a rubber plantation.