Police in Kratie province stop a bus carrying 37 people, including three CCFC staffers, on 17 May 2023 (photo from supplied).

Three staffers at the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC) have been arrested and are expected to be sent to court, a day after police in Kratie province stopped a bus carrying 37 people and detained several people for questioning overnight.

This morning, police formally arrested Theng Savoeun, CCFC president; Nhel Pheap, a senior officer at the NGO; and Thann Hach, a project officer. Reasons for stopping the bus and the arrests are not clear. The three were among those detained overnight, while the remaining 34 people left the police station in their own bus this morning.

Authorities confiscated computers, mobile phones, and written documents from the group, and the Ministry of Interior’s Anti Cyber Crime Department were seen entering the police station following the staffers’ detention.

CCFC is a membership-based organisation established in 2011 to address land rights and issues affecting Cambodia’s farmers. Savoeun was previously arrested alongside other NGO staffers and community members in January 2014 following a violent crackdown on demonstrators in Phnom Penh, and spent five months in prison prior to receiving a largely suspended sentence of four years.