Left to right: Mich Deap, Chan Cheat and Hun Hong. Photo supplied.

The Battambang Appeal Court yesterday upheld prison sentences ranging from six to 10 years against three men in two separate cases after they took photographs that were allegedly related to the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict.

Mik Deap, 33, and Hun Hong, 36, residents of Samrong city in Oddar Meanchey, were convicted by the Siem Reap Provincial Court on 11 May 2026 on charges of “collecting information prejudicial to national defense” and “attempting to commit a felony” under Articles 446 and 27 of the Criminal Code. The Battambang Appeal Court yesterday upheld their six-year prison sentences.

Deap and Hong were arrested on 12 December 2025 after taking a break and photographing the O’Chik bridge in Oddar Meanchey province during the border conflict. The bridge was bombed by the Thai military a few days later.

In a separate case, the Battambang Appeal Court upheld the conviction of Chan Cheat, a 36-year-old opposition activist and former district council candidate for the Khmer Will Party. Cheat was sentenced by the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court to 10 years in prison on 13 May 2026 on charges of “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defence" under Article 445 of the Criminal Code and “unlawful removal for cross-border transfer” under Article 11 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation.

Cheat ran a personal taxi business nearby the Cambodia-Thailand border that was used by Cambodian migrants after they returned to their home country during the conflict. He was arrested after taking photographs of Thai-placed barricades along the Cambodia-Thailand border in September 2025, over a month after the first ceasefire took effect. Authorities alleged that Cheat shared his location with Thai nationals. Cheat maintained that he was in contact with people in Thailand in relation to his taxi business and not the border conflict.

Deap and Hong remain imprisoned in Siem Reap provincial prison and Cheat is imprisoned in Banteay Meanchey provincial prison.