[From top right, clockwise] Seng Vannarith, Sao Sambath and Choub Channath.

Three more unionists from the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) were charged on Wednesday with obstructing authorities’ health measures and sent to pre-trial detention in Phnom Penh’s PJ prison. Deputy prosecutor Seng Heang has also issued an “order to bring” for four additional LRSU unionists, which compels authorities to forcibly take them in for questioning.

Choub Channath, Sao Sambath and Seng Vannarith were charged under Article 11 of the Covid-19 law, with authorities accusing them of obstruction of enforcement measures. The charges carry between six months and three years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million riel – though the penalty increases to between two and five years in prison and a fine of up to 20 million riel if the act leads to Covid-19 infections or has “serious impact” on public health.

The three men were arrested on Saturday around 7:30 pm as they were leaving a Koh Pich Covid-19 testing site in a tuk-tuk. Earlier that day, the government ordered LRSU strikers into buses to go to the testing center and take multiple Covid tests. Strikers had complied with the order, including the three detained individuals who had all tested negative. A total of six people were arrested that evening, but three were later released.

The three arrests brings the total number of LRSU unionists detained in prison to 11. The LRSU union has been on strike since December 2021 to protest mass layoffs at NagaWorld casino that targeted union leaders and did not fully comply with Cambodia’s Labour Law. Authorities have labeled the strike illegal and arrested union activists, including union president Chhim Sithar.

Saturday’s arrests followed the detention and beating of a striker’s husband the night before – the man was detained and slapped repeatedly after arriving at the strike site to pick up his wife, an LRSU union member, on a motorbike. He was later released.

The Covid-19 law, officially known as the Law on Measures to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 and other Highly Contagious Diseases, faced criticism from human rights experts for its vague and disproportionate definitions and sentencing guidelines when it was enacted in March 2021.