PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Armed with a wide range of truncheons – from electric to ‘homemade’ sticks discreetly wrapped in newspaper – police and thugs attacked demonstrators, passersby and journalists indiscriminately after a defiant demonstration at Freedom Park during Labour Day.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Armed with lotus flowers and incense sticks, opposition party member of parliament Mu Sochua was stopped by barb-wired barricades and police when trying to reach Freedom Park for a seventh time. Phnom Penh’s designated protest area has been closed since the Cambodian government banned all public gatherings and demonstrations following January’s deadly clashes.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
33-year-old Boeung Kak resident Hek Chan Reaksmey, who was over 2 months pregnant, miscarried after clashes with the police on Monday during a demonstration in front of City Hall.
On the second day of protests, more than 40 villagers demanded solutions to their basic right to housing, and for fellow land rights activist Yorm Bopha’s release. With no response from City Hall, the villagers made their way to the Prime Minister’s house to ask for his intervention.
While Boeung Kak villagers repeatedly clashed with the police in an attempt to reach the Prime Minister’s house, supporters of ruling party CPP rallied a few hundred meters away. It is election time after all.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Mother and house wife Yorm Bopha was sentenced to three years in prison and fined US$7500 under charges of intentional violence in September 2012. Yesterday, after a two-day appeal trial, her conviction was upheld, but reduced to two-years in jail.
Bopha was declared prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and her arrest is seeing by human rights monitors as a persecution for her activism.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Land and human rights activist Tep Vanny started her journey yesterday to Washington D.C where she will receive the Vital Voices Global Leadership in Public Life Award.
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Human rights defender and prisoner of conscience Mam Sonando, along with Touch Ream and Khan Sovann are expected to be freed from jail on Friday 15th March after the court announced changes to Sonando’s offenses, and reduced sentences to time served for all.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Land and human rights activists marched the streets of Phnom Penh to celebrate the International Women’s Day. A minute’s silence was observed for Boeung Kak’s Chea Dara, who committed suicide out of desperation over being forcibly evicted and for Yorm Bopha’s 185th day in prison.
Meanwhile, men showed their support by preparing food and organizing the event back at Boeung Kak community.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
71 year-old journalist and owner of Beehive Radio Mam Sonando, and co-convicted Touch Ream and Khan Sovann appeal last year’s court sentence at the Appeal Court.
While hundreds of demonstrators outside the Appeal Court shouted for justice and their immediate release, families of the convicted waited patiently outside the room. Having been in prison since one of his daughters was only a couple of months old, Touch Ream was able to spend some family time while in court.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Boeung Kak, Borei Kaila and Thmar Kaul communities have – once again – united to protest against Yorn Bopha’s three-year prison sentence. The villagers gathered for the last time this year in front of the Municipal Court to curse officials and ask for justice.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
For two consecutive days families and friends of land rights activists Tim Sakmony and Yorn Bopha gathered near the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh to support them during their trial and demand their immediate release.
Unable to finish Bopha’s hearing on the same day, the court postponed her verdict and finished the day by sentencing Sakmony to six months in prison after she was found guilty of fraud. Sakmony’s sentence was reduced to the three months and 21 days already served under pre-trial detention and was able to return home.
