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
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
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.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Despite efforts of the international community, the intervention of the UN and even the mention of his case by US president Obama during his visit to Cambodia; Mam Sonando, the owner of Beehive Radio and director of the Association of Democrats, was denied bail at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh today.
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Despite the continuous pressure by the communities and NGOs, the Cambodian judicial system has done it again. After over two months under unjustified pre-trial detention, Yorm Bopha and Tim Sakmony were denied bail at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh yesterday.
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
After four consecutive days of patient waiting and unreserved support for Mam Sonando, the 71 year-old journalist and owner of Beehive Radio Station, demonstrators still did not get a resolution to the case.
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
Supporters of Mam Sonando, the 71 year-old journalist and owner of Beehive Radio Station, continue to show their support.
On their third day, despite weather conditions, villagers patiently waited until late in the afternoon for the court’s decision. Instead, the hearing was extended one more day.
See also Day 1, Day 2 & Day 4
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
For the second consecutive day, villagers united to protest against Mam Sonando’s arrest. For over 10 hours, protestors waited patiently in front of the barricades set up by police a few hundred meters away from the Municipal Court, while over a dozen witnesses testified on the so called ‘secessionists’ case.
