Left to right: Morm Rithy, Ny Nak, and Chin Bunnaroth.

The Phnom Penh Appeal Court this morning denied bail for Morm Rithy, Ny Nak, and Chin Bunnaroth, upholding the decisions of the lower courts to sentence the three activists to prison on various charges.

Rithy, head of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation, was arrested in May 2024 after being convicted in absentia of incitement and discrediting judicial decisions under Articles 494-495 and 523 respectively, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The convictions were related to a Facebook video that Rithy posted in February 2022, in which he criticised the arrest of a federation member at Jinbei Casino in Sihanoukville.

Nak, a social commentator, was sent to pre-trial detention in January 2024, and in November 2024 was convicted of incitement, defamation and repeat misdemeanour offences under Articles 496, 305, and 88, respectively. The charges concerned a Facebook post that questioned the government's decision to allocate 91 hectares of land to a man named Heng Sour, whom Nak identified as the minister of labour. He was sentenced to two years in prison, a 3 million riel (around $750) fine and ordered to pay an additional 200 million riel (around $50,000) in compensation.

Bunnaroth, head of administration for the opposition Nation Power Party, was charged with incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code and sent to pre-trial detention in September 2024. Bunnaroth was arrested as part of a widespread crackdown on over 100 people who were accused of expressing dissent or planning protests in response to the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) cooperation agreement, which was later scrapped by the government.