Environmental activist Ven Vorn's conviction upheld by Court of Appeal

KHM 003 /1015 / OBS 084.3

Sentencing /Judicial harassment

Cambodia

September29, 2016

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of theWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, has received newinformation and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation inCambodia.

Newinformation:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the convictionof Mr. Ven Vorn,an Areng Valley environmental activist and a community leader for theindigenous Chong minority in Koh Kong Province.

According tothe information received, on September 21, 2016, the Court of Appeals upheldthe conviction and one-year suspended sentence of Mr. Ven Vorn. In a briefverdict, the defendant's appeal was reportedly rejected without justification.

During aprevious appeal hearing, held on September 9, 2016, the Presiding Judge upheldthe arguments brought by the prosecution while ignoring defence arguments[1],and repeatedly asked why Mr. Ven Vorn decided to appeal his conviction despitebeing handed a suspended sentence entailing no jail time.

TheObservatory recalls that on March 3, 2016, the Koh KongProvincial Court found Mr. Ven Vorn guilty of “harvesting timberproducts and/or non-timber forest products without a permit” (Article 98of the Forestry Law) and sentenced him to a one-year suspended prisonsentence. Mr. Ven Vorn was released on the same day from Koh Kong ProvincialPrison, where he had been detained since his arrest on October 7, 2015 (seebackground information).

The Observatory strongly condemns the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the convictionof Mr.Ven Vorn as well as the arbitrary detention towhich he was subjected, as they only aim atsanctioning his legitimate human rights activities.

Theconviction of activists involved in high-profile cases and their release onsuspended sentences has become an often-used tactic by the Cambodianauthorities to criminalise legitimate activism.

TheObservatory calls on the Cambodian authorities to putan end to all acts of judicial harassment against Mr. Ven Vorn as well as allhuman rights defenders in Cambodia.

Backgroundinformation:

On September 2, 2015, 17 persons, including Mr. VenVorn, were arrested outside Koh Kong Provincial Court. They were picketingto demand the release of the three jailed activists, Messrs. SimSamnang, Tri Sovichea, and San Mala, who had been involvedin protests against a hydroelectric dam. Mr. Ven Vorn was subsequentlyreleased.

OnOctober 7, 2015, Mr. Ven Vorn was re-arrested and sent to KohKong Provincial Prison. The arrest followed the decision of Investigating JudgeMr. Min Makara, who had questioned Mr. Ven Vorn on the same morning and chargedhim with “harvesting timber products and/or non-timber forest products withouta permit” (Article 98 of the Forestry Law) and “destruction of evidence”(Article 533 of the Criminal Code).

Both of theabove-mentioned charges related to the construction by Mr. Vorn and a group oflocal activists of a small visitor centre and community meeting place for localactivists involved in a campaign against the proposed construction of ahydropower dam in the Areng Valley. According to activists andenvironmental groups, the hydropower dam poses a threat to their land,livelihood, and the natural environment. For this project, Mr. Vorn and othershad purchased approximately 10 cubic metres of wood from a vendor in 2014,which authorities claimed had been procured by the vendor through illegallogging.

On February17, 2016, Mr. Ven Vorn appeared before the Koh Kong Provincial Court tohear charges of “harvesting timber products and/or non-timber forestproducts without a permit” and “destruction of evidence” (Article 533 of theCriminal Code). The court dropped the charge of “destruction ofevidence” due to a lack of evidence. Mr. Ven Vorn faced up to five yearsof imprisonment and a fine of up to ten million Riel (about 2,250 Euros).

Mr. Ven Vornhad been previously questioned on April 3, 2015 at the Koh Kong ProvincialCourt in relation to the same alleged illegal logging incident before beingreleased on the same day.

Actionsrequested:

Please writeto the authorities of Cambodia asking them to:

i. Guaranteein all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Ven Vornas well as of all human rights defenders in Cambodia;

ii. Put an end to all forms of harassment, including atthe judicial level, against all human rights defenders in the country so thatthey are able to carry out their work without hindrance;

iii. Complywith all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human RightsDefenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, inparticular with its Articles 1 and 12.2;

iv.Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordancewith the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international humanrights instruments signed or ratified by the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Addresses:

· Mr.Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Fax: +855 23 360666 / 85523 880624 (c/o Council of Ministers), Email:leewood_phu@nida.gov.kh / cppparty@gmail.com

· Mr.Sar Kheng, Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom ofCambodia. Fax: + 855 23 212708

· Mr.Ang Vong Vathna, Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Fax: + 855 23364 119

· Mr.Prak Sokhon, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Fax: + 85523 216 144 / 855 23 216 141, Email: mfaic@mfa.gov.kh

· Mr.Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Fax: +855 23 882 065,Email: leewood_phu@nida.gov.kh/ info@pressocm.gov.kh

· Mr.Keo Remy, President of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, Fax: +855 12 81 3781 / +855 23 21 11 62 or +855 23 88 10 45 (c/o Council of Ministers)

· Mr.Bun Hun, President of the Cambodian Bar Association, Fax: +855 23 864 076,Email: info@bakc.org.kh

· AmbassadorMr. Ney Samol, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the UnitedNations in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 788 77 74, Email: camemb.gva@mfa.gov.kh

Please alsowrite to the diplomatic representations of Cambodia in your respectivecountries.

***

Geneva-Paris, September 29, 2016

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting thecode of this appeal in your reply.

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

[1] The prosecution based its arguments merely on the fact that policereports, according to which Mr. Ven Vorn ordered four people to log wood (seebackground information), were accurate. As for the defence, it argued that 1)Mr. Ven Vorn did not cut the logs himself, and was therefore not subject toArticle 98 of the Forestry Law ; that 2) even if he had cut the logs himself(which no one argued), Mr. Ven Vorn would have a right to do so as anindigenous person, as stated in Article 40 of the same Forestry Law; and that 3)Mr. Ven Vorn used the timber he purchased to build a community center whichaimed to preserve the ancestral land of the indigenous people, not for personalgain. During the same hearing, the Judge eventually reprimanded Mr. Ven Vornfor having requested a third party to conduct the logging, despite claiming tobe an environmental activist, and considered Mr. Vorn's statement that hepurchased the timber as a "confession".