PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s government on Sunday released a video which it said showed arrested opposition leader Kem Sokha talking about conspiring against the administration with US support.
Kem Sokha was arrested on Sunday and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government said he was accused of treason for plotting with foreign powers.
The government released the video on its Facebook page and said it had been recorded in Australia by the private Cambodia Broadcasting Network. It did not say when.
It appeared to show Kem Sokha speaking to supporters in the Khmer language and discussing a political strategy with US support rather than an immediate plot to oust the government.
Kem Sokha’s opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) made no immediate comment on the video and either its veracity or content. These could not be independently verified.
Kem Sokha was heard comparing the situation in Cambodia to that in the former Yugoslavia in 2000, when protests helped to bring down former leader Slobodan Milosevic.
“Before changing the top level, we need to uproot the lower one... The USA, which has assisted me, has asked me to take the model from Yugoslavia, Serbia, where they were able to change the dictator Milosevic,” he appears to say.
“I do not do anything at my own will. I have experts, university professors in Washington DC, Montreal, Canada hired by the Americans in order to advise me on the strategy to change the leaders. And if I follow such a tactic and strategy and if I could not win, I do not know what else to do.”
The government has recently increased its rhetoric against the United States and last month ordered the expulsion of the US State Department-funded National Democratic Institute pro-democracy group.
![]()
Cambodia releases alleged opposition leader plot video
Cambodia releases alleged opposition leader plot video
India PM Modi’s party elects youngest-ever president with eye to youth vote
MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose a little-known legislator from India’s poorest state as the party’s youngest president on Tuesday, a generational shift in the effort to retain young voters.
Nitin Nabin, 45, takes over from outgoing president J.P. Nadda, 65, months before key state elections, one of them in the eastern state of West Bengal, which the BJP has never won and is strongly focused on.
A five-time lawmaker from the eastern state of Bihar, Nabin was elected unopposed as the party’s 12th president after Modi and other leaders proposed him.
Hundreds of workers watched at party headquarters in New Delhi as Nabin, his forehead smeared with a vermillion mark and his shoulders wrapped in a scarf with the party symbol, took the oath of office before Modi and four past presidents.
“When it comes to the party, I am a worker and he is my boss,” Modi, 75, said in his remarks, pointing to Nabin, who will serve a three-year term.
In his speech, Nabin repeatedly praised Modi as a generational leader and urged young people to take an active part in politics.
More than 40 percent of India’s one billion voters are aged between 18 and 39, the Election Commission and analysts estimate.
The BJP suffered a shock setback in the 2024 general election as Modi lost his majority after 10 years in power and had to rely on regional allies to form a government.
But it has since regained ground, winning critical state and civic body elections. The party and its allies govern 19 of India’s 28 states.
Nitin Nabin, 45, takes over from outgoing president J.P. Nadda, 65, months before key state elections, one of them in the eastern state of West Bengal, which the BJP has never won and is strongly focused on.
A five-time lawmaker from the eastern state of Bihar, Nabin was elected unopposed as the party’s 12th president after Modi and other leaders proposed him.
Hundreds of workers watched at party headquarters in New Delhi as Nabin, his forehead smeared with a vermillion mark and his shoulders wrapped in a scarf with the party symbol, took the oath of office before Modi and four past presidents.
“When it comes to the party, I am a worker and he is my boss,” Modi, 75, said in his remarks, pointing to Nabin, who will serve a three-year term.
In his speech, Nabin repeatedly praised Modi as a generational leader and urged young people to take an active part in politics.
More than 40 percent of India’s one billion voters are aged between 18 and 39, the Election Commission and analysts estimate.
The BJP suffered a shock setback in the 2024 general election as Modi lost his majority after 10 years in power and had to rely on regional allies to form a government.
But it has since regained ground, winning critical state and civic body elections. The party and its allies govern 19 of India’s 28 states.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.