Retrial and renewed sentencing of Yorm Bopha

KHM 006 / 1212 / OBS 119.3

Sentencing/ Judicial harassment
Cambodia
June 30, 2016

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

New Information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources,including the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and the Cambodian Leaguefor the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), about the retrial andrenewed sentencing of Ms. Yorm Bopha, a housing and land rights activistwho was pivotal in organising and leading protests against the forced evictionsof residents from the Boeung Kak Lake community in Phnom Penh.

Accordingto the information received, on June 28, 2016, Ms. YormBopha was found guilty for a second time by theCourt of Appeals in Phnom Penh, during a retrial inrelation to an alleged attack on two motorbike taxi drivers on August 7, 2012.Ms. Yorm Bopha was given a three-year prison sentence, of which she alreadyserved 14 months and 18 days, with the remainder of her sentence to besuspended. Despite being given a further two and a half years to investigatethe case, the authorities failed to produce any credible evidence linking Ms.Yorm Bopha to the alleged attack.

TheObservatory recalls that Ms. Yorm Bopha was arrested in September 2012 andoriginally sentenced to three years in prison in December 2012, after beingfound guilty of the attack. Following an international campaign for herrelease, Ms. Yorm Bopha was released on bail in November 2013 after spending444 days in prison, and her case sent to the Court of Appeals (see background information).

The Observatory condemns Ms. Yorm Bopha’srenewed conviction on the basis of questionable allegations, anddespite the fact that no credible evidence was presented at her trial. TheObservatory considers that Ms. Yorm Bopha was prosecuted and convicted becauseof her legitimate activities as a high-profile landand housing rights activist, in contradiction with international humanrights standards and Cambodia’s international obligations. The Observatory therefore calls for Ms. Yorm Bopha’s fullacquittal and all charges against her to be cleared.

Background information:

Severalfamilies from the Boeung Kak Lake community have been battling forced evictionssince 2007, when the government leased their land to a private Cambodiancompany, Shukaku, for development purposes. In May 2012, after 13 members ofthe Boeung Kak Lake community (the “Boeung Kak 13”) were arbitrarily arrested,Ms. Yorm Bopha actively campaigned for their release. She maintained ahigh-profile presence at every demonstration, became a media spokesperson forthe campaign, and publicly criticized government officials. Due to thisnew-found prominence, Ms. Yorm Bopha was verbally threatened, harassed, andintimidated.

On September4, 2012, Ms. Yorm Bopha was detained for allegedly ordering her brothers toassault two motorbike taxi drivers near her home on August 7, 2012. Ms. Bophahas denied these allegations.

On December27, 2012, Ms. Yorm Bopha was sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court tothree years in prison for “intentional violence with aggravatingcircumstances” under Article 218 of the Criminal Code. Much of the so-calledevidence produced during her trial was based on the testimony of the twoalleged victims - civil parties to the case who sat in the court room the wholetime, who were not required to swear an oath and who stood to gain considerablecompensation pending a guilty verdict. The accounts of the alleged victims wereoften convoluted and uncorroborated. The prosecution witnesses, one of whom wasthe father of one of the alleged victims, continually changed their stories andcontradicted one another.

On June14, 2013, the Court of Appeals in Phnom Penh upheld the conviction ofMs. Yorm Bopha on an altered charge of instigationof violence, but suspended one year of her three-year original sentenceon the grounds that she did not directly commit the act.

InAugust 2013, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD)declared that the detention of Ms. Yorm Bopha was arbitrary as her deprivationof liberty resulted from having peacefully exercised her right to freedom ofexpression[1].

Followingwidespread outcry over her conviction, on November 22, 2013, Ms. Yorm Bopha was released from prison following a ruling by theSupreme Court in Phnom Penh, which ordered her release on bail and sent hercase back to the Court of Appeals for further investigation and a retrial.Since that date, her retrial has been hanging over her head like a sword of Damocles,amounting to further harassment.

Actionsrequested:

Please writeto the authorities of Cambodia urging them to:

i.Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity ofMs. Yorm Bopha, as well as of all human rights defenders in Cambodia;

ii. Fully acquitand clear Ms. Yorm Bopha of all charges as her conviction only aims atsanctioning her human rights activities;

iii. Put anend to acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Ms. YormBopha, as well as against all human rights defenders in Cambodia so that they are able to carry out theirwork without hindrance or fear of reprisals;

iv. Complywith all the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adoptedby the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular itsArticles 1, 12.1 and 12.2;

v.Guarantee in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and otherinternational and regional human rights instruments signed or ratified by theKingdom of Cambodia.

Addresses:

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

· Mr. Sar Kheng, Minister of Interior,Kingdom of Cambodia. Fax: + 855 23 212708

· Mr. Ang Vong Vathna, Minister ofJustice, Ministry of Justice, Kingdom of Cambodia. Fax: + 855 23 364 119

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

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

· Mr. Keo Remy, President of theCambodian Human Rights Committee, Office of the Prime Minister, Kingdom ofCambodia, Fax: +855 12 81 37 81 / +855 23 21 11 62 or +855 23 88 10 45 (c/oCouncil of Ministers)

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

· Ambassador Mr. Ney Samol, PermanentMission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations in Geneva,Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 788 77 74, Email: camemb.gva@mfa.gov.kh

Pleasealso write to the diplomatic representations of Cambodia in your respectivecountries.

[1] http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/WGAD/2013/24