Cambodia land activists' convictions called unjust
Thursday, May 24, 2012
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Human rights groups in Cambodia have expressed outrage over prison sentences imposed on 13 women who were protesting being evicted from their land without adequate compensation.
Land grabs in Cambodia are sometimes linked to corruption and deadly force carrying out the evictions.
Ou Virak of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said Friday the trial was an injustice.
The women were convicted of aggravated rebellion and illegal occupation after a three-hour trial, and each was sentenced Thursday to 2 1/2 years in prison.
They had been residents of Phnom Penh's Boueng Kak lake area, which the government awarded to a Chinese company for commercial development.
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