"Three Environmental Activists Imprisoned, Two Youth Activists Arrested Over Separate Peaceful Demonstrations", 6 September 2020

Authorities … charged three youth environmental activists with incitement and ordered them to pre-trial detention over the trio’s peaceful activism calling attention to the government’s filling in of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Tamok lake.

The three environmental activists - Thun Ratha, a 28-year-old man, Long Kunthea, a 22-year-old woman, and Phuong Keorasmey, a 19-year-old woman – are members of the Mother Nature Cambodia movement and were charged … over their organising of a planned peaceful march from Wat Phnom to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house by Kunthea to express her concerns regarding the filling and construction inside Boeung Tamok.

They were arrested …, interviewed by the prosecutor and investigating judge at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court over the weekend and charged … with “incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest” under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code, which carries a prison sentence of between six months and two years…

In a separate case, authorities … also arrested two members of the Active Citizens for Justice youth movement, which had organised a gathering at Freedom Park next week to call for the release of imprisoned union leader Rong Chhun.

Venerable Koet Saray, an ordained Buddhist monk, and Mean Prommony, the vice-president of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association, were arrested in Phnom Penh over their plans to gather at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park and call for the release of union leader Rong Chhun…