The Koh Kong Provincial Court has agreed to a request to delay the questioning of an anti-dam activist accused of illegally felling trees to build a community center in the Areng Valley.
Ven Vorn—an ethnic Chong who has joined local protests organized by the NGO Mother Nature to oppose a proposed hydropower dam that would flood the valley and force hundreds of Chong families to leave their ancestral lands—was summoned by the provincial court earlier this month and asked to appear for questioning Wednesday.
The court’s chief prosecutor, Bou Bunhang, said he had accepted Mr. Vorn’s request for a delay and that a new date would be set later.
Mr. Vorn, who denies the allegations against him, said he needed more time to prepare.
“We don’t have enough documents related to the case and I am looking for some witnesses,” he said.
The court summons came just days after Mother Nature co-founder and Spanish national Alex Gonzalez-Davidson was deported from Cambodia following the government’s refusal to renew his visa.
Mr. Vorn says he believes the court summons is meant to intimidate him because of his work with Mother Nature.
