Mother Nature Movement activists, dressed in funerary clothes,​ light incense outside the Phnom Penh Capital while refusing to attend their trial hearing on 5 June 2024.

Five Mother Nature Movement activists refused to enter the courtroom where they were being tried for plotting against the state this morning, after authorities arbitrarily shut the street and limited some media and supporters from monitoring the public hearing at the Phnom Penh Capital Court.

The five activists – Yim Leanghy, Thun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth, Phuon Keoraksmey and Long Kunthea – face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charges, filed over their peaceful environmental activism. Their trial had its first hearing one week ago, when dozens of supporters and media gathered in front of the courtroom to witness them entering the court.

This morning, some NGOs and observers who had registered in advance were allowed to enter the courtroom, but barricades blocked access to the street in front of the court. Supporters accompanying the Mother Nature activists were prohibited from entering, leading the activists to sit and meditate in protest of the restrictions. The hearing proceeded without any of the charged activists present and consisted primarily of reading transcripts of their previous interviews.

In total, 10 Mother Nature activists are charged in the case. In addition to the five mentioned above, Sun Ratha, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, Binh Piseth, Rai Raksa, and Pork Khoeuy are also facing plotting charges, while three - Sun Ratha, Leanghy and Gonzalez-Davidson - also face charges of insulting the King. Thun Ratha, Keoraksmey and Kunthea were previously arrested in 2020 and served more than 14 months in prison over separate charges related to organising a one-woman march to highlight the filling-in of what was then Phnom Penh’s largest remaining lake.

The Mother Nature Movement is an environmental group that focuses on defending and protecting Cambodia’s natural resources. They have raised issues around the filling-in of lakes in Phnom Penh, illegal logging and the destruction of natural resources across the country, and its members have faced repeated judicial harassment and imprisonment. The group was awarded the 2023 Right Livelihood award for their activism, though Thun Ratha, Keoraksmey and Kunthea were prevented by the court from travelling to Stockholm, Sweden, to receive the award in person.