Military officers photographed at the mango farm of San Sre and Breng Hing in 2023.

The Siem Reap Provincial Court this morning convicted three Kuy community members as part of a long-standing dispute with the Ministry of Environment and military over land within the Chub Saom Community Protected Area (CPA) inside the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary.

In August 2023, Ministry of Environment officials, accompanied by local authorities and military officials, destroyed trees at the mango farm of two land activists, San Sre and Breng. The incident was live streamed by Sre’s brother, San Seth. A few weeks later, all three family members — who are Kuy and have been actively advocating for roughly 250 families’ land rights amid growing pressure from authorities — were told that criminal charges had been filed against them.

The court this morning convicted and sentenced Sre and Hing to five years in prison, based on Articles 56 and 62 of the Law on Protected Areas, which deal with the offence of felling trees or encroaching on forest land. Seth, was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison in relation to Article 63 of the same law for allegedly interfering with or obstructing environmental protection officials. All three had their prison sentences suspended in full by the court.

Around 250 families have been occupying the land since 2000 and were embroiled in a dispute with the military over more than 2,500 hectares of land at the edge of the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary. The conflict was further complicated in 2012 when the Ministry of Environment created the Chub Saom CPA, which overlapped with the families’ claims to the land.