Cambodia insists five environmental activists jailed in 2024 will remain behind bars, after a U.N. working group called their detention arbitrary and urged their immediate release.The five members of Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced to six to eight years in prison for allegedly plotting against the government.The U.N. working group found no legal basis for their detention and said their prosecution and trial violated their rights, including through discriminatory treatment and a lack of a fair trial.Cambodian officials maintain the activists were detained through lawful judicial proceedings, while rights advocates say the case reflects a broader government crackdown on environmental defenders.
CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release.
The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between six and eight years for allegedly plotting against the government.
In a 16-page opinion published in February, the U.N. working group said it had found that the imprisonment of Long Kuntha, 28, Ly Chandaravuth, 26, Phuon Keoraksmey, 25, Thun Ratha, 34 and Yim Leanghy, 37, met the conditions for arbitrary detention on the grounds that there was no legal basis for the arrests. It said authorities had targeted the activists for exercising their fundamental freedoms, making the detention discriminatory and resulting in severe violations of their right to a fair trial.
