Imprisoned Mother Nature Activists Get Suspended Sentences, Probation on Appeal
Published on 5 November 2021
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court this morning suspended parts of the prison sentences of three imprisoned Mother Nature activists and placed them under judicial supervision for three years, meaning they face onerous reporting requirements or else risk being forced to serve the remaining sentences.
The three activists – Thun Ratha, Long Kunthea and Phuon Keoraksmey – were sentenced in May 2021 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code over the planning of a one-woman march to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house to discuss the filling in of Boeung Tamok lake in the capital’s north. They have been imprisoned since their arrest in September 2020.
Ratha was originally sentenced to 20 months in prison, but this morning’s ruling resulted in six months being suspended. Kunthea and Keoraksmey had been handed 18-month sentences, and this morning they had four months of those sentences suspended. The trio’s pre-trial detention began on 6 September 2020. Two other Mother Nature activists, Chea Kunthin and Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, were also convicted in absentia in the lower court case.
The three activists are still facing charges of plotting against the state, which carries up to 10 years in prison, in a case involving three other currently detained Mother Nature activists – Sun Ratha, Yim Leanghy, and Ly Chandaravuth. Gonzalez-Davidson was also charged in absentia in that case as well.
Ratha, Kunthea and Keoraksmey, who were 28, 22 and 19 years old at the time of their arrest, were also handed three years of probation under Articles 119 and 120, which carries conditions such as informing a prosecutor of any change of address, change of occupation, or intention to leave the country, among others. They were also ordered to not associate with anyone convicted in the same case, and if they are convicted of incitement again in the next three years, they will have to serve the full original sentence in addition to any new sentence.
