Five Cambodian Environmentalists Arrested in Kratie Province Are Sent to Court
Award-winning environmentalist Ouch Leng and four other environmental activists detained by the Kratie Province environmental authorities on Feb. 5 were sent to provincial court on Feb. 7. Photo from ADHOC-Cambodia.
- Phoung Vantha
- February 7, 2021 11:08 AM
The five local environmentalists accompanying them were released after signing a document
PHNOM PENH--Award-winning environmentalist Ouch Leng and four other environmental activists detained by the Kratie Province environmental authorities on Feb. 5 were sent to provincial court on Feb. 7, according to the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc).
“On Feb. 7, at 12:25, the five environmentalists were sent by the environmental officer to the provincial court to continue the procedure after being detained for 48 hours,” Adhoc said on its Facebook page.
Leng, who is president of the Cambodia Human Rights Task Force and a Goldman Environmental Prize winner, along with Heng Sros, Men Math, Heng Run and Choup Cheang were arrested in the forest by Kratie Province’s environment officers as they were carrying signs saying “[p]lease help preserve our ancestral-heritage forest" that they meant to display to help prevent deforestation. The arrests took place in Achen Village in Sambour District’s Kampong Cham Commune.
The five local environmentalists accompanying them who were also arrested on Feb. 5 were released after signing a document to the effect that they would no longer join initiatives by environmentalists from outside the area, according to Adhoc.
Duong Savuth, director of the Kratie Provincial Environment Department, on Feb. 6 said that the activists were arrested for entering a restricted area under the protection of the Ministry of Environment without proper authorization.
Choub Sreynuth, the wife of Heng Sros, has called on the authorities to release her husband and the other environmentalists. “What has my husband done wrong,” she said. “As a citizen just contributing to the protection of the forest, contributing to the protection of natural resources, why was he arrested and charged? It's really an injustice."
Soeng Senkaruna, an investigator with the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc), said that the authorities should not arrest environmental activists who just watch over forests, gather information, and put up slogans to remind people to protect them, he said.
"The authorities should arrest those committing forest crimes because it is something that should be done," Senkaruna stressed.
In March 2020, four of these environmentalists had been arrested by the private security forces of the Think Biotech company as they were travelling on motorbikes to monitor and investigate illegal logging activities in the Prey Lang area of Kratie Province.
Ouch Leng, Khem Soky, Srey Thei and Man Mat had been released on March 16, 2020 after a 2-day trial in Kratie Province with the understanding that they were remaining under court supervision and that Leng had to register with the ministry before doing any activity.
