PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A Cambodian opposition leader has been sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for manipulating a map of Cambodia's eastern border with Vietnam.
Sam Rainsy, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party and a former finance minister, was also fined $15,730 for falsifying public documents.
He was accused of posting a "fake" map of the border on his party's Web site. But he said he downloaded the map from Google.
A statement on the Sam Rainsy Party Web site called the sentence a "verdict from a kangaroo court".
Rainsy, 61, lives in self-imposed exile in France and for several years has been an outspoken critic of negotiations between Cambodia and Vietnam, ongoing since 2006, to settle the contentious frontier issue along the 790-mile border.
Markings to delineate the frontier are often poorly made and deteriorating, not very visible or non-existent.
Rainsy, like many Cambodians -- especially those living along the poorly marked border -- are suspicious of the talks and believe Vietnam is quietly encroaching onto Cambodian territory.
He openly has accused the government of giving land away in an effort to reach an agreement with Vietnamese officials. His party has taken up the cause of many farmers, especially in the south eastern Svay Rieng province.
UPI
