Mother Nature activists Thun Ratha, Long Kunthea, Sun Ratha, Phuon Keoraksmey and Yim Leanghy call for charges against them to be dropped in a video posted by the environmental group in July 2022.

The Supreme Court upheld the convictions of three activists from environmental group Mother Nature this morning, leaving them subject to restrictive probation conditions.

The activists – Long Kunthea, Phuon Keoraksmey and Thun Ratha – were​​ convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in May 2021 on charges of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code. The Phnom Penh Appeal Court upheld the convictions in November 2021, including fines of 4 million riel (US$1,000) each, and suspended parts of their sentences. Ratha’s 20-month sentence was suspended by six months, while Kunthea and Keoraksmey’s 18-month sentences were each suspended by four months.

The three activists were not present in the courtroom this morning as the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the Appeal Court’s judgement. The Appeal Court had placed them under probation with onerous reporting requirements for a period of three years, during which time violations could risk them being forced to serve their remaining sentences. Two other Mother Nature activists – Chea Kunthin and Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson – were convicted in absentia by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in the same case.

Kunthea, Keoraksmey and Ratha have worked to shed light on environmental destruction in Cambodia. Their convictions followed a plan for a one-woman march in Phnom Penh to highlight the filling in of Boeung Tamok lake. The three were arrested in September 2020 and spent 14 months in prison before their release alongside three other Mother Nature activists in November 2021.

The three activists continue to face charges of plotting against the state and up to 10 years in prison in a separate case, alongside activists Sun Ratha, Yim Leanghy, Ly Chandaravuth and Gonzalez-Davidson.