The UN Human Rights spokesperson expressed grave concern on Tuesday over the sentencing of 10 Cambodian environmental activists to prison terms for “plotting” and “insulting the King.” The statement came in response to the sentencing of 10 activists connected with the award-winning human rights and environmentalist group Mother Nature.
According to local media, Mother Nature co-founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson and activists Sun Ratha and Yim Leanghy will face eight years imprisonment and fines of ៛10,000,000 KHR (~$2,400 USD) on charges of “plotting” and lèse majesté (insulting the monarchy). Seven of those convicted received six years, having been convicted only of “plotting.”
The sentences were handed down in the defendants’ absence. Four of them — Ly Chandaravuthm, Thon Ratha, Long Kunthea, and Phuon Keoreaksmey — were outside the Municipal Court surrounded by supporters when the sentences came down. They were arrested in the immediate aftermath. Leanghy was apprehended later in the day in Phnom Penh.
Article 437 of the Cambodian criminal code, which contains the offence of lèse majesté, was added by amendment in February 2018. The offence pertains to “any speeches, gestures, scripts/writings, paintings or items that would affect the dignity of the King.”
Amnesty International has decried the sentences, calling the decision:
[A]nother crushing blow to Cambodia’s civil society. Mother Nature Cambodia is a renowned activist group that has brought attention to environmental degradation fuelled by long-standing corruption in the country. Instead of listening to young leaders at the forefront of the environmental movement, the Cambodian government has chosen to jail those that dare to speak out.
The five environmental activists in custody will be transported to separate provincial prisons, a move which families of the convicted say may endanger the group’s well being and hinder their ability to visit those imprisoned.
