A Cambodian woman who led protests against her community’s forced eviction saw her conviction for a street brawl reduced to two years in jail after her appeal to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday.
Yorm Bopha, 29, was sentenced to two years in prison and one year suspended for beating up motorcycle drivers in a fight with the help of her brothers, who are on the run. According to human rights non-governmental organisation Licadho, Bopha only watched the fight from outside, together with other bystanders. Local human rights organisations say the verdict is designed to intimidate the Boeung Kak Lake community, which has been involved in a four-year-long battle with the state about land rights. Cambodian human rights non-governmental organisation Licadho called the verdict “outrageous.”
“I’m very upset about the verdict,” Virak Ou, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said yesterday. “It doesn’t make sense given the evidence and the international and Cambodian pressure.”
“The only reason I can find is (Prime Minister) Hun Sen trying to show that he can not be challenged on how he rules,” Virak added.
Cambodian convicted resident of the squatter areas in
Boeung Kak lakeside, Yorm Bopha (centre), walks handcuffed and guarded by a police officer as she arrives at the Appeals Court in Phnom Penh yesterday.