Military officers photographed at the mango farm of San Sre and Breng Hing in 2023.

The Appeal Court in Battambang upheld convictions against three Kuy Indigenous community members who were convicted in July for crimes related to the Law on Protected Areas.

Land activists San Sre and Breng Hing were convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for felling trees or encroaching on forest land, under Article 56 and 62 of the protected areas law. San Seth, Sre’s brother, was sentenced to one year in prison for obstructing environment officials. All prison sentences were suspended.

The case relates to Ministry of Environment officials, along with local authorities and military officers, destroying trees on their mango farm. The incident was live streamed by Seth. The three people are part of a 250-family community that found their land demarcated within the Chub Saom Community Protected Area in 2012 inside the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary , land which was already in dispute with the military.

In a separate case, Seth was sent to pre-trial detention in July 2024 after authorities imprisoned dozens of activists, civil society members and others in relation to protests around the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam trade agreement, which was scrapped by the government in September.