Workers hold banners calling the release of Chea Chan in front of the Kampong Speu Provincial Court this morning.

Around 30 workers gathered outside the Kampong Speu Provincial Court this morning to hold banners and call for the immediate release of Chea Chan, a union leader with the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) who has been imprisoned since February 2024.

Chan faces between 3 and 10 years in prison on charges of theft with aggravating circumstances, charges that the union has said are judicial abuse intended to stifle freedom of association. Chan served as the president of the union at Wing Star Shoes factory, and was unanimously voted to be the factory’s union president shortly before his arrest. He had reported receiving threats prior to the vote warning him against forming a union in the factory.

Chan is one of at least three imprisoned unionists in Cambodia. Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), has been imprisoned since November 2022. Morm Rithy, president of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation, was jailed earlier this month prior to an internal union vote.