LIBRARY

18 February 2025

The Phnom Penh Appeal Court denied bail to five imprisoned Mother Nature activists yesterday. The environmentalists – Long Kunthea, Ly Chandaravuth, Phuon Keoraksmey, Thun Ratha and Yim Leanghy – were returned to separate prisons following the decision.

The five have been in prison since being convicted by the Phnom Penh Capital Court on 2 July 2024, when they were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to eight years on charges of plotting and/or insulting the King. The activists had sought bail while the conviction is under appeal.

28 January 2025

Two journalists from local media outlets known for regularly publishing pro-government content were charged with incitement, accused of causing serious disruption to social security. They were detained in Correctional Center 1 prison late last week after their news outlets shared a video they claimed showed a cyberscam compound in Cambodia—a claim that authorities have denied.

Duong Akhara and Lay Socheat, who work for SA TV and Cambodia Star Daily News 24/24, respectively, allegedly posted a video of a man handcuffed to a metal pole and being tortured. The outlets claimed the video showing acts of torture was filmed at a cyberscam compound in Phnom Penh's Dangkor district. The two men were arrested last week following an order from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

24 January 2025

The Supreme Court has upheld the verdicts issued by the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court on 7 February 2024 and Battambang Appeal Court on 12 June 2024 in the case of Chao Veasna, the head of Candlelight Party’s Poipet Municipal branch and steering committee member.

Veasna, 59, was sentenced to three years in prison, fined 6 million riels, and ordered to pay 80 million riels (approximately $20,000) in compensation to the civil plaintiff. Additionally, he has been deprived of political rights for five years. These charges stem from accusations of "incitement to commit a felony" and "incitement to discriminate," under Articles 495 and 496 of the Criminal Code. The charges were related to an incident on 23 July 2023, when Veasna allegedly encouraged voters to invalidate their ballots as protest for the arbitrary exclusion of the Candlelight in that year’s national assembly election.

20 January 2025

Hundreds of garbage collection workers from Phnom Penh-based 800 Super-GAEA Cambodia gathered to support their representatives as they negotiated with the company and authorities, part of a strike prompted by the dismissal of four union leaders at the company.

Union leaders said the strike was triggered by the company’s dismissal of four union leaders shortly after they had submitted paperwork to formalize a union to both the company and the Labour Ministry earlier this month. Workers allege that the company rejected their request and failed to address workers' demands for improved labor practices and benefits.

14 January 2025

The Supreme Court this morning denied bail for Ream Sreypich Rothana and Thy Thorn, two vice-presidents of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), upholding the decision of the Investigating Chamber of the Phnom Penh Appeal Court from 5 December 2024. The two youth activists, aged 23 and 24, are charged with "plotting" under Article 453 of the Criminal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years if convicted.

Rothana and Thorn were arrested in August 2024 as part of a larger crackdown on over 100 people accused of expressing opinions or planning to assemble in reaction to the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA), a regional cooperation agreement from which Cambodia has since withdrawn. In total, more than 60 people were charged and imprisoned during the crackdown.

5 December 2024

Five youth and student group members from the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA) and Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP) were denied bail by the Phnom Penh Appeal Court in a private hearing this afternoon.

The five include KSILA vice-presidents Ream Sreypich Rothana and Thy Thorn, both 23-years-old; KSILA member Seun Sreymai, 21; and YRDP staffers Sak Kanika, 33, and Chheang Rithy, 36. They are each charged with plotting under Article 453 of the Criminal Code, and face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

21 November 2024

The Phnom Penh Capital Court convicted Ny Nak of incitement to discriminate and defamation today, sentencing him to two years in prison for comments he made on social media about the government giving away land in Kampot province to a man named Heng Sour.

The 44-year-old outspoken social commentator was sent to pre-trial detention on 6 January 2024 for a Facebook post in which he questioned the Cambodian government's decision to allocate 91 hectares of land to Heng Sour, who Nak identified as the current minister of labour. Labour Minister Heng Sour, who is the plaintiff in the case, filed a complaint, claiming he was not the Heng Sour to receive the land. In addition to his prison sentence, Nak was ordered to pay a 3 million riel fine (around $750) and an additional 200 million riel (around $50,000) in compensation to the minister.

7 November 2024

A community affected by a land conflict in Kratie province camped outside of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction in the capital yesterday to call on authorities to resolve a dispute with Kasekam Youveakchun Svay Rieng Co. Ltd, a company which started clearing their land and crops in June of this year.

Around 30 community members, who represent 252 families in Kratie’s Sambor district, arrived in Phnom Penh on Wednesday and waited outside the ministry’s front gate to request meetings with government officials to submit a petition. Officials from Kratie province, including the deputy governor, met with them in Phnom Penh and asked them to return to the province, but community members insisted on sleeping outside the ministry in a makeshift camp using hammocks, mats and blankets until a solution was found.

24 October 2024

Mech Dara, an award-winning journalist, was released on bail from Kandal Provincial Prison today, close to a month after he was arrested and charged with incitement for posting alleged false information on social media.

Dara walked out of prison on Thursday after his lawyer’s submitted another bail application to Phnom Penh Capital Court. On Wednesday, a video of Dara circulated on pro-government media in which he apologised for social media posts in September that were the grounds for his incitement charge.

16 September 2024

Since 23 July 2024, more than 100 people have been arrested and more than 60 have been charged and imprisoned for posting on social media, planning to assemble, or expressing opinions about the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA), a 20-year-old trade and cooperation agreement between the three neighboring countries.

The age of those detained and charged ranges between 16 and 70, including four minors under the age of 18. Most of those detained have been charged with “plotting an attack on the state”, which carries a sentence of 5-10 years in prison. Others are facing charges of “incitement to commit a felony”, which carries between 6 months and 2 years in prison, while several others face additional charges. They are being held in prisons across the country, many of which are severely overcrowded and struggling to provide people behind bars with basic services.

16 September 2024

Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), was released from prison early this morning after completing her two-year sentence on charges of incitement related to the ongoing peaceful strike by her union’s members. Sithar was driven home by officials from Correctional Center 2 (CC2) at approximately 4:30am.

Sithar was first violently arrested in January 2022 as she attempted to join hundreds of striking LRSU members in front of the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh. She was released several months later, only to be re-arrested in November 2022 upon returning from a labour rights conference in Australia. Authorities claimed she was re-arrested due to violating judicial supervision conditions, although neither Sithar nor her lawyer had been informed of those conditions.

9 August 2024

The Supreme Court upheld the incitement conviction of Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha, who was sentenced to three years in prison by a lower court for a speech he gave to the opposition party’s supporters in South Korea last year.

Setha has now exhausted his appeals after the Supreme Court upheld a Phnom Penh Capital Court verdict from October 2023 that found him guilty of incitement to commit a felony and incitement to discriminate under Articles 494, 495 and 496 of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a four million riel fine (around US$1,000).

25 July 2024

Candlelight Party President Teav Vannol was convicted of defamation this morning and ordered to pay US$1.5 million in damages to the government for comments he made to the media in February 2024.

The presiding judge at the Phnom Penh Capital Court found Vannol, who was previously a senator with the Sam Rainsy Party, guilty of defamation under Article 305 of the Criminal Code. He was ordered to pay the Cambodian government 6 billion riel ($1.5 million) in compensation and 10 million riel (around $2,500) in fines.

20 July 2024

Chea Chantha, a local leader of the informal worker group Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), was sent to pre-trial detention by the Svay Rieng Provincial Court on Friday evening after he was arrested on 16 July while talking to workers about accessing the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

Chantha attended a workshop on Tuesday discussing climate change and social protections in Bavet, Svay Rieng. Later, he met with workers and was talking about the NSSF, a government social service, when police arrested him.

16 July 2024

A monk in Battambang province was expelled from his pagoda yesterday, several days after he participated in a peaceful march to mark the 8th anniversary of Kem Ley’s death.

Venerable Sang Rithy was expelled by the pagoda committee of Battambang city’s Wat Damrei Sorwas on the evening of 15 July. The monk is currently residing at another pagoda in the city.

Venerable Rithy participated in a march with other monks and youth activists on 10 July to mark the anniversary of the 2016 shooting of social researcher and commentator Kem Ley. The group held banners of Kem Ley and other prominent murdered activists and called for the release of the recently imprisoned Mother Nature environmental activists. Authorities initially attempted to block the peaceful assembly, but participants continued the march, ending at the Independence Monument in the center of the city.

10 July 2024

Youth activists, monks, civil society members and family members of imprisoned activists marched together in Phnom Penh today to mark the 8-year anniversary of the killing of political analyst Kem Ley, calling for justice for him and for the release of imprisoned student movement and environmental activists.

After marches through the capital, at around 9 am the groups gathered at the Caltex Bokor gas station where Kem Ley was murdered on 10 July 2016, shot as he was drinking his morning coffee. The subsequent investigation was inadequate and civil society continues to demand a credible and independent investigation into the murder, while authorities have at times cracked down on attempts to commemorate the anniversary of his death.

4 July 2024

The Phnom Penh Capital Court’s conviction and sentencing of 10 Mother Nature activists to 6-8 years in prison, and the arrest of five of them on 2 July 2024, is a shame for our nation. Silencing environmental defenders and characterising their peaceful advocacy as a threat to the state is a mockery of justice.

It is well past time for authorities to listen to and work with youth and environmental activists. Stop spending resources harassing, threatening and prosecuting the brave and passionate young people who are working to protect Cambodia’s most precious natural resources.

3 July 2024

The five Mother Nature activists arrested yesterday after being sentenced to 6-8 years in prison have been sent to five different prisons, some hundreds of kilometres from their residences and families. Splitting up activists to ensure they are detained far from each other and their families is a cruel and unusual punishment that has no precedent in Cambodia.

Thun Ratha was sent to Correctional Center 3 in Tbong Khmum province; Ly Chandaravuth to Kandal prison; Phuon Keoraksmey to Pursat provincial prison; Yim Leanghy to Kampong Speu prison; and Long Kunthea to Preah Vihear prison.

Sending people to prisons far away from their families and lawyers has been recognised as an infringement of people’s human rights by the United Nations. It is also a clear violation of the “Nelson Mandela Rules” for the humane treatment of prisoners, which calls for people in prison to be close to their homes.

2 July 2024

Ten Mother Nature environmental activists were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of between 6 and 8 years by a Phnom Penh court this morning, while four of the youth activists who were present outside the court were violently arrested by security personnel.

The panel of judges delivered the verdict at the Phnom Penh Capital Court Tuesday morning, concluding the trial that hinged on two criminal charges - plotting and insulting the king — which were related to Mother Nature activists’ peaceful environmental activism.

27 June 2024

The Interior Ministry’s decision to investigate the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) for a 4 June report the NGO issued about the Better Factories Cambodia programme is a clear reprisal and an attempt to intimidate an NGO that is committed to improving the freedom of association for all Cambodian workers and unions.