WUNRN
CAMBODIA – TEN WOMEN, ONE MONK, IMPRISONED FOR PEACEFUL PROTESTS OVER SEVERE FLOODING OF RESIDENTIAL AREA DUE TO DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
Bangkok-Geneva-Paris-Phnom Penh, November 13,
2014. The Cambodian Government must end the repression of land rights
defenders and immediately release those imprisoned on November 11-12, the
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT
joint programme, said today.
“The government’s latest wave of repression of peaceful protests is
extremely troubling. Under no circumstances should an individual be put in
jail for a year for demonstrating over the authorities’ inaction to
prevent floods,” said FIDH President Karim Lahidji.
On 11 November 2014, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced seven
women, all human rights defenders from the Boeung Kak Lake community, to a
year in prison and a two-million riel (about US$500) fine after
finding them guilty on charges of obstructing public traffic under
Article 78 of the Traffic Law.
The seven women human rights defenders were identified as Nget
Khun, Tep Vanny, Song Srey Leap, Kong Chantha, Phan
Chhunreth, Po Chorvy, and Nong Sreng. They are
currently detained in Prey Sar Correctional Center 2 Prison in Phnom Penh.
On 10 November, mixed security forces arrested the seven women in front of
Phnom Penh City Hall after the group had placed a bed frame in the middle
of Monivong Boulevard. The peaceful protest was designed to draw attention
to the chronic and severe flooding of their neighborhood during the
rainy season. Residents blame the flooding on the filling-in of Boeung Kak
Lake by Shukaku, a housing construction company owned by Cambodian
People’s Party (CPP) Senator Lao Meng Khin. The protesters also demanded
that local authorities immediately fix inadequate drainage in the
neighborhood.
Nget Khun, Tep Vanny, Song Sreyleap, Kong Chantha, and Phan Chhunreth had
previously been jailed for more than a month in May 2012 on charges of
obstructing public officials and illegally occupying land when they
protested against forced evictions in Boeung Kak Lake to make way for
the development project implemented by Shukaku.
On the morning of 11 November, authorities detained four other
persons – three women land rights activists Heng
Pich, Im Srey Touch, and Phoung Sopheap and Buddhist
monk Seung Hai from Stung Meanchey Pagoda – who
gathered outside of Phnom Penh Municipal Court to protest
the arrest of the seven women. On 12 November, the Phnom Penh
Municipal Court sentenced all four to a year in prison and a two-million
riel (about US$500) fine on charges of aggravated obstruction of public
officials under Article 504 of the Criminal Code.
“If the imprisonment of the seven women activist is deplorable, the
incarceration of the other four three women and the monk for protesting a
day later is even more shocking,” said OMCT Secretary General
Gerald Staberock. “The government must immediately and
unconditionally release them.”
For more information, please contact:
-·FIDH: Arthur Manet/Audrey Couprie: +33 1 43 55 25 18
-·OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: +41 22 809 49 24