Cambodian activist Mam Sonando to be freed in days

Rights groups welcome decision by appeal court in Phnom Penh to drop insurrection charges against owner of Beehive Radio

• Kate Hodal in Bangkok
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 14 March 2013 

Cambodian supporters of Mam Sonando protest outside the appeal court in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty

Cambodian activist Mam Sonando will be released from prison this week after his 20-year jail sentence was suspended on Thursday by a court in Phnom Penh, a decision hailed by rights groups as a positive step for freedom of expression in the country.

The activist and owner of Beehive Radio, one of Cambodia's few independent media outlets, was found guilty in October last year of leading a secessionist plot in Kratie province, where villagers had been protesting against evictions for a rubber plantation.

Two co-defendants, Chan Sovann and Touch Rin, have also had their sentences reduced.

An outspoken critic of Cambodia's long-standing president, Hun Sen, as well as land grabs that in recent years have taken place across the state, Sonando, 72, was not in the country at the time of the protest, prompting activists to claim that his arrest and consequent imprisonment were politically motivated.

On Thursday, judges dropped the charge against Sonando of "leading an insurrection" and replaced it with a minor sentence, the Phnom Penh Post reported. His sentence was cut to five years, then suspended to eight months, most of which time Sonando has already served.

His release, expected on Saturday, was hailed by activists as a step in the right direction for Cambodia, where freedom of expression is often restricted. But rights groups noted that much more had to be done to ensure true freedom for activists fighting for justice in the country.

"Today's decision will give hope to other land and forest defenders who are being held by the Cambodian authorities," said Oliver Courtney, of international campaigns group Global Witness.

"But we should remember that the Cambodian government has been pressured from every side to release Sonando, and in less high-profile cases they're still doing whatever it takes to silence their critics. As the country's land grabbing crisis gets worse, more and more people are getting arrested for speaking out – that has to stop."

Nearly three-quarters of Cambodia's arable land has been transferred in so-called economic land concessions to private companies, research from Global Witness has found, usually without consultation or compensation. Local activists estimate that more than 400,000 Cambodians have been evicted from their farms or homes since 2003.