[STATEMENT] Free Mother Nature Cambodia 5! Free all EHRDs!

The Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED) expresses its dismay over the Cambodian Supreme Court’s ruling, which denied the release of five Mother Nature Cambodia activists on March 2, 2026. 

In July 2024, a Cambodian court convicted 10 members of the youth-led environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia on charges of lèse-majesté and plotting—serious offences under Cambodian law that can carry long prison terms. Five of those activists who attended the verdict in person—Thun Ratha, Phuon Keoraksmey, Long Kunthea, Ly Chandaravuth, and Yim Leanghy—were immediately arrested outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court after the judgment and later detained, while others were convicted in absentia. Sentences ranged from six to eight years in prison, with additional fines applied to some on the lese-majesty charge. Moreover, the authorities sent the five activists to separate prisons across the country, hundreds of kilometers from their families. 

For almost two years, APNED, along with other environmental organizations, has demanded the urgent release of the detained Mother Nature Cambodia activists, who actively and bravely fought against sand mining, protected sacred islands, and opposed toxic pollution in Cambodia.  

With the growing environmental concerns that Cambodia is facing, from deforestation, growing pollution, mining, and hydropower development aggression, it becomes even more important that Cambodian authorities ensure the safety and freedom of Cambodian environmental defenders. Countries will not be able to navigate their way through the global climate crisis if the people at the frontlines of this fight are detained simply for speaking out. It is high time that we stop treating environmental protection like a crime and start treating it as an important cornerstone for preserving our future, both here in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.