A Cambodian court has imprisoned three environmental activists belonging to the advocacy group Mother Nature, after finding them guilty of “incitement” for organizing a one-woman protest against the filling of lakes in the country’s capital Phnom Penh.
On Wednesday, a judge at Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced activists Long Kunthea and Phuon Keoraksmey to 18 months in prison for “incitement to commit a felony or disturb social order” and fined them 4 million riel (about $1,000) each. A third activist, Thun Ratha, 29, was sentenced to 20 months on the same charge, and he was also fined 4 million riel.
The trio was arrested in September while organizing a protest in which Kunthea planned a live-streamed solo march to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s imposing villa in central Phnom Penh, to raise awareness about the destruction of Boeung Tamok, one of the city’s last remaining lakes.
In full: https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/trio-of-cambodian-youth-imprisoned-for-environmental-activism/
