Cambodia charges environmentalists over royal insults, plotting against the federal government
22 June, 2021
A Cambodian court has charged four environmental activists with insulting the king and plotting against the federal government, an official said on Monday (Jun 21), after three of these were arrested for documenting waste run-off into a river.
Unlike in neighbouring Thailand, the utilization of royal defamation laws in Cambodia continues to be a relatively new phenomenon as the legislation was only enacted in 2018.
The three activists - Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth and Yim Leanghy of advocacy group Mother Nature - were arrested on Wednesday for documenting the draining of waste into Phnom Penh's Tonle Sap river.
Over the weekend they were "charged with conspiracy to plot and for insulting the king", Plang Sophal, a spokesman for Phnom Penh Municipal Court, told AFP in a text on Monday.
Also charged was Mother Nature's co-founder, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, a Spanish environmentalist who was deported from Cambodia in 2015 after he criticised the government's plans for a controversial dam.
Sophal did not elaborate on why the activists were hit with those particular charges.
While Cambodia has a constitutional monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni, it is definitely ruled by its strongman premier Hun Sen - who's Asia's longest-serving leader.
The lese majeste laws triggered alarm from rights groups who warned that they could be wielded as another tool to focus on dissent.
If sentenced, the Mother Nature activists face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for insulting the king, and a decade behind bars for the conspiracy charge.
The most recent charges "seem to be a threat and intimidation to other activists who want to protect the surroundings", said Am Sam Ath, deputy director of local rights group Licadho.
Mother Nature has faced a raft of legal troubles from Cambodian authorities.
Last month, three environmental campaigners affiliated with the group were sentenced to between 18 and 20 months in prison for organising a relaxing march to protest against an enormous lake being filled with sand in the administrative centre.
The tussle over Cambodia's environment and resources is definitely a contentious issue in the kingdom, with environmentalists threatened, arrested and even killed in the past decade.
Last week the US embassy condemned the "worsening" situation in Cambodia and announced that it had been redirecting millions in funds from government entities to local NGOs.
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