An Appeal Court hearing for three jailed Mother Nature activists on Tuesday had heated exchanges between the defendants and prosecution, as the environmentalists defended their activism.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced a former opposition party activist to a year and half in prison for comments posted in a video clip calling the government soft against the country’s Vietnamese minority, which were made during a rally for jailed unionist Rong Chhun.
Several Phnom Penh residents spoke in support of the arrested Mother Nature activists, but a common theme was growing fear around expressing themselves.
International rights groups and embassies raised concerns over the recent arrests of Mother Nature environmentalists, as a government-aligned media outlet posted alleged evidence of a Zoom meeting where the activists appear to discuss a cartoon sketch of Prime Minister Hun Sen wearing a crown.
Four activists arrested this week are all from environmental group Mother Nature, a rights group has said — as an Interior Ministry official alleged the “rebellious” group was using foreign money to try to topple the government.
Three of four environmental activists arrested on Wednesday are accused of plotting, a crime punishable by five to 10 years in prison, according to National Police.
Hearings are underway at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for more than 100 supporters of the dissolved CNRP who were charged with incitement and plotting. Arriving defendants and their colleagues say the occasion is a chance for the persecuted opposition to show solidarity.
Over a dozen pages of court documents summoning former CNRP members, including several party leaders and ex-lawmakers, on charges of plotting and incitement were taped to an abandoned security guard booth at the banned party’s former headquarters in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
Four defendants were in hiding while dozens of local CNRP supporters gathered for what they said was the first time since the party’s dissolution as the Tbong Khmum Provincial Court on Tuesday sentenced five ex-opposition officials to jail for plotting.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has released on bail a former CNRP public affairs officer accused of “plotting” after an investigating judge placed him under court supervision, a court spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has promoted 25 people to be his official assistants, including a bodyguard who has received land on Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tamok lake and another who was nearly scammed online by a 14-year-old.
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