Release Tep Vanny, arbitrarily detained for two years

Cambodia: Release TepVanny, arbitrarily detained for two years

Paris-Geneva, August15, 2018 - Land rights defender Tep Vanny must be immediately andunconditionally released, the Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders, an FIDH-OMCT partnership, reiterated today, on the two-yearanniversary of her detention. Ms. Tep Vanny is currently incarcerated at PreySar’s Correctional Centre 2 (CC2) prison in Phnom Penh.

“The prolonged and arbitrary detention of Tep Vanny reflects the severerepression that human rights defenders and civil society members continue toface in Cambodia. The international community must demand that Cambodianauthorities immediately and unconditionally release Tep Vanny and cease allacts of harassment against her,”said FIDH Secretary-General Debbie Stothard.

Tep Vanny has worked tirelessly to protect the rights of members of theBoeung Kak community and played a key role in the ‘Black Monday’ campaign,which called for the release of fellow human rights defenders. She has beenarbitrarily detained since August 15, 2016, when she was arrested forparticipating in a peaceful ‘Black Monday’rally[1].

OnAugust 22, 2016, she was convicted of ‘insulting of a public official’ (Article502 of the Criminal Code), and sentenced to six days in prison. However, afterserving her prison sentence, Ms. Tep Vanny remained behind bars becauseauthorities resurrected outstanding charges against her, related to previousprotests in which Tep Vanny had taken part.

OnSeptember 19, 2016, Ms. Tep Vanny was sentenced, along with three other BoeungKak Lake community activists, to six months in prison on charges of ‘insultingof a public official’ and ‘obstructing of a public official’ (Articles 502 and504 of the Criminal Code), in a case related to a November 2011 protest thatcalled for a resolution to the Boeung Kak land dispute.

OnFebruary 23, 2017, Tep Vanny was convicted on charges of ‘intentional violencewith aggravating circumstances’ (Article 218 of the Criminal Code), andsentenced to a further 30 months in prison for having participated in a March2013 protest that called for the release of fellow activist Yorm Bopha.

Inboth cases, Tep Vanny’s appeals were rejected by the Court of Appeal and theSupreme Court. All cases against Tep Vanny were based on trumped-up charges andfeatured various infringements to her right to a fair trial.

“Tep Vanny is a courageous woman and determined human rights defenderwho did not commit any crime and should not have spent a minute behind bars.She must be immediately released and compensated for the arbitrary detentionand judicial harassment to which she has been subjected,” said OMCT General Secretary Gerald Staberock.

The Observatory for the Protectionof Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programmeis to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against humanrights defenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, theEuropean Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by internationalcivil society.

For moreinformation, please contact:

• OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: +41 228 09 49 39; mgi@omct.org
• FIDH: Samuel Hanryon: +33 6 72 28 42 94 - shanryon@fidh.org - @Sam_hanryon / Maryna Chebat: +33 6 49 10 83 65 - mchebat@fidh.org - @MS_Chebat

[1] See the urgent appeal KHM 002 / 0816 / OBS077.4 of the Observatory published on February 9, 2018