Court in Phnom Penh finds activists Tep Vanny, Heng Mom, Kong Chantha and Bo Chhorvy guilty following a three hour trial and sentences them to six months in prison.
It cited the deterioration of relations since the 2014 agreement between the CPP and CNRP that ended a period of unrest following elections in 2013,
Lawyers for the defendants argued that the Anti-Corruption Unit had held them illegally during questioning.
Human Rights Watch and some 60 local civil society groups called for the charges against Tep Vanny and Bov Sorphea to be dropped.
The plaintiffs say they were tricked into working for the companies and spent nearly two years – between 2010 and 2012 – living in “forced labor, servitude, and peonage.”
The demonstration saw the activists putting curses on four headless mannequins symbolizing issues such as corruption in the courts.
Campaigners on Monday told VOA Khmer that the continued detentions of activists taking part in the Black Monday protests was a reflection of deteriorating freedom of expression.
A local rights defender casts doubt on the authorities’ ability to find justice in the case.
The protesters marched through Phnom Penh’s streets carrying banners, alleging that companies Phnom Penh Sugar and Kampong Speu Sugar have not provided them with proper compensation since moving onto the land.
Ny Chakrya was jailed on bribery-related charges along with four human rights workers for allegedly giving money to the supposed mistress of opposition deputy leader Kem Sokha, to persuade her to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Sokha.
Rainsy told VOA after the case was filed last week that he did not regret writing the Facebook post and went on to reiterate the same comments.
The protesters from six villages in Koh Kong’s Sre Ambel and Botum Sakor districts claim that Koh Kong Sugar and Koh Kong Plantation encroached on their farmland.
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