Five Cambodian environmental defenders have completed one year of their six to eight-year prison terms on ‘baseless charges,’ said Human Rights Watch.

On 2nd July 2024, the Phnom Penh Court found ten activists from the group guilty of ‘plotting against the government.’

Five were imprisoned immediately while four others were tried in absentia, and the tenth, a Spanish national, was deported ten years ago.

‘The baseless and harsh sentences imposed on the Mother Nature activists one year ago demonstrate the Cambodian government’s utter disregard for the country’s environment,’ said Bryony Lau, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.

‘The government should quash the convictions for peaceful environmental activism and release those imprisoned immediately.’

On 30th April 2025, Cambodia’s Supreme Court denied the activists’ final bail request.

The imprisoned activists are Thun Ratha in Tbong Khmum, Ly Chandaravuth in Kandal, Phuon Keoraksmey in Pursat, Yim Leanghy in Kampong Speu, and Long Kunthea in Preah Vihear.

On its campaign site, Mother Nature Cambodia claims that since the end of the Cambodian civil war, ‘the government has prioritised development and poverty reduction’ but that this has been used as a pretext by a ‘small elite of well connected individuals and corrupt, ruthless government officials to amass vast fortunes, causing widespread destruction of the nation’s natural resources and gross human rights violations.’

It claims that the ‘destruction of nature in Cambodia goes on unabated.’

The group has said that it aims to halt this ‘wave of destruction’ through peaceful direct action, and through exposure of what it calls ‘crimes’ [against Cambodia’s natural landscape].

Human Rights Watch has claimed that since the convictions, Cambodian authorities have also targeted environmental journalists for their reporting.