PHNOM PENH, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Phnom Penh Appeal Court on Wednesday resumed hearing former opposition leader Kem Sokha's appeal in his treason case after delays for more than 18 months, one of his lawyers said.

Kem Sokha, former president of the Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2023 to 27 years in prison for treason, but was ordered to serve his sentence in home detention.

The 72-year-old former opposition leader was convicted of conspiring with a "foreign power" in an attempt to overthrow the legitimate Cambodian government and was arrested in 2017.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court also banned him from politics for life.

Kem Sokha had appealed against the verdict. The Phnom Penh Appeal Court began hearing his appeal in January 2024, and the process had been delayed since September of the same year. ■