Joint Statement - CCHR and OMCT welcome today’s Supreme Court decision to temporarily release Yorm Bopha and call on the Court of Appeal to promptly hear her case and clear her name

CCHR and OMCT PRESS RELEASE - 22 November 2013

CCHR and OMCT welcome today’s Supreme Court decision to temporarily release Yorm Bopha and call on the Court of Appeal to promptly hear her case and clear her name

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) welcome the decision of the Supreme Court, handed down earlier today, to temporarily release land rights activist Yorm Bopha pending the re-hearing of her case by the Court of Appeal.

Yorm Bopha was convicted on 27 December 2012 and sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “intentional violence with aggravating circumstances” under Article 218 of the Cambodian Criminal Code after she allegedly ordered an attack on two motorbike taxi drivers who she did not even know. In June 2013, the Court of Appeal ruled that Yorm Bopha was not a direct perpetrator of the assault but the instigator behind it, and reduced her sentence to two years.

Today’s hearing at the Supreme Court saw Yorm Bopha’s defense lawyers pick to pieces any apparent evidence used to convict Yorm Bopha, demonstrating quite clearly that the charges against the land rights activist are bogus. CCHR and OMCT have consistently criticized the conviction of Yorm Bopha and in June 2013 CCHR released a detailed legal analysis of her charging and sentencing at the Phnom Penh Court of First Instance. The lack of legal basis for Yorm Bopha’s conviction has lead to the widespread belief that the case against her was fabricated in order to silence the activist, who has played a prominent role in her community’s struggle against land grabbing and forced evictions in the Boeng Kak area of Phnom Penh.

Yorm Bopha has already spent 444 days in prison for a crime that she did not commit. The Court of Appeal must act independently to immediately review the case, schedule a new hearing for Yorm Bopha and finally secure her freedom.

According to CCHR President Ou Virak: “It has been clear from the very beginning of this case that Yorm Bopha has been targeted for her activism in the context of the Boeng Kak community’s struggle for their rights. While today’s decision to temporarily release Bopha from jail is a welcome step, we must urge the Appeal Court to act quickly and to put an end to the suffering of Bopha and her family once and for all.”

“We are relieved about Yorm Bopha’s conditional release after more than a year of detention that we believe was arbitrary. We urge the Court of appeal to schedule a new hearing quickly and to release her unconditionally,” added OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock. 

For more information, please contact Ou Virak via telephone at +855 (0) 1240 4051 or e-mail at ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org, CCHR Consultant Orla Kelly via telephone at +855 (0) 6772 7025 or e-mail at orla.kelly@cchrcambodia.org or OMCT Human Rights Adviser Seynabou Benga via telephone at + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 or email at sb@omct.org. 

Please find the Joint Statement also attached in PDF in English. The Khmer version will follow shortly. 

Kind regards,

CCHR