Observers expect the trial of 23 people arrested during early January strike demonstrations will not be completed today, due to the number of witnesses who may testify.

“I think the trial would take more than the time [available today],” Ham Samrith, senior lawyer for the Community Legal Education Center, said yesterday.

More than 80 witnesses could ultimately testify at Phnom Penh Municipal Court during the trial, which began on April 26, Samrith said. Defendants were arrested on January 2 and 3 in front of the Yakjin garment factory and on Veng Sreng Boulevard. Most on trial face sentences of to up to five years in prison.

As many as 300 people representing 18 pro-labour rights organisations will gather outside the courthouse in a show of support for the defendants, said Kong Athit, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union.

The trial resumes at 8am today.