- Cambodia’s Supreme Court has denied bail to five environmental activists from the NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, all of whom are appealing their convictions after spending more than nine months behind bars.
- The activists had already served prison sentences but were released on bail in November 2021 on the condition that they stopped their environmental work; the charges against them were never dropped and the Cambodian government arrested them again in 2024.
- The activists have won praise globally, with the group receiving the Right Livelihood award in 2023; the five are being held in separate prisons across Cambodia, hundreds of kilometers from their homes and families, which rights advocates say is needlessly cruel.
BANGKOK — On the morning of April 30, Cambodia’s Supreme Court denied bail to five environmental activists from Mother Nature Cambodia who are currently facing prison sentences ranging from six to eight years on charges of plotting against the government and insulting the king.
On July 2, 2024, environmental activists Ly Chandaravuth (25), Phuon Keorasmey (24), Long Kunthea (27) and Thun Ratha (33) received six-year prison sentences while Yim Leanghy (35) was handed an eight-year sentence. The activists are currently appealing their convictions and were seeking bail after having spent more than nine months behind bars.
The award-winning environmental activism group has long organized peaceful demonstrations aiming to preserve Cambodia’s natural resources, tackling issues such as sand mining, deforestation and land rights — a stance that has put them at odds with politically connected tycoons.
All five of the imprisoned activists had already served prison sentences in relation to their activism but were released on bail in November 2021 on the condition that they stopped their environmental work. The charges against them were never dropped, providing a pretext for the Cambodian government to arrest them again in 2024.
But Judge Kong Srim, vice president of the Supreme Court, upheld the Feb. 17 verdict of the Phnom Penh Appeals Court, denying bail to the five activists. The five are being held in separate prisons across the country, hundreds of kilometers from their homes and families, a move seen by rights advocates as unprecedented and needlessly cruel.
“The message by the ruling Hun family here — which, as the whole world knows, fully controls the judiciary — is that those who dare to speak out on environmental issues or dare to mount campaigns to protect the country’s nature, will be punished, and punished hard,” said Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, the founder of Mother Nature Cambodia, who was deported in 2015.
Gonzalez-Davidson pointed to the impunity with which politically connected tycoons are able to commit environmental crimes at scale, provided they support the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), while activists of Mother Nature Cambodia are punished for exposing these crimes. He added that tycoons such as Try Pheap, arguably one of Cambodia’s most notorious illegal timber traffickers, and Ly Yong Phat, a CPP senator whose land-grabs violently displaced thousands, are the ruling party’s financial backbone. Both Try Pheap and Ly Yong Phat have been sanctioned by the United States for alleged criminal activities.
Gonzalez-Davidson said the Supreme Court’s decision to deny the activists bail was further proof that Cambodian courts “act as political hammers against those who as mentioned above dare to tell the truth or act for the common good.”
Indeed, many judges — including those at the Supreme Court, which on paper is independent — are members of the Cambodian People’s Party. Students seeking to become lawyers or judges have previously complained that acquiring such positions is impossible without paying bribes. Judge Srim has repeatedly ruled against political activists and citizens who have questioned or criticized the government.
Naly Pilorge, outreach director at Cambodian human rights group Licadho, said she was “extremely disappointed” with the Supreme Court’s decision not to grant bail.
“There’s no evidence that these young people have done anything criminal; in fact, they’re trying to help Cambodian society by raising important issues that affect the environment and other related issues,” she said in a phone interview. “They should be able to join their families; some of them have children, elderly mothers and fathers, so it’s clear that they would not leave the country — the Supreme Court should allow them on bail so that they can at least spend time with their families.”
Pen Bona, a spokesperson for the Cambodian government, did not respond to repeated calls, messages or emailed questions.
The activists’ persistence has earned them praise globally, with the group winning the Right Livelihood award in 2023 as a result of their work in championing environmental issues in Cambodia and galvanizing young people to speak up for nature.
Subsequently, the heavy sentences that Mother Nature Cambodia’s activists received sparked widespread outcry, with groups such as Human Rights Watch, United Nations special rapporteurs and Amnesty International all condemning the government’s treatment of the environmentalists.
“Jailing young Cambodians for speaking up to protect nature is an attack on human rights, free expression and the future of our planet. We stand in full solidarity with them and call for their immediate and unconditional release,” Ole von Uexkull, executive director of Right Livelihood, said in an April 30 statement.
Right Livelihood has previously brought up the case at the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling the arrests and sentencing “unjust and arbitrary.” But no amount of international condemnation has shifted the stance of the Cambodian government, which has stripped Mother Nature Cambodia of its NGO status and labeled it an “illegal organization.”
As things stand, Chandaravuth, Keorasmey, Kunthea and Ratha won’t be released until 2030, while Leanghy looks set to remain incarcerated until 2032.
Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
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