Capital court drops charges against Tola

12 July 2018

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court...said it had dropped the breach of trust charges against labour rights activist Moeun Tola.

The charges related to a complaint filed by Cambodian Youth Party president Pich Sros over the mishandling of the funeral budget for slain political analyst Kem Ley in 2016, despite the fact that nobody in Ley’s family had filed a complaint.

Also charged were But Buntenh, founder of the Independent Monk Network, and independent media advocate Pa Nguon Teang, who have both fled abroad and still face court action....

“It has been decided that the charges against Moeun Tola, 43, over trust breach conducted in Phnom Penh in 2016, based on articles 391 and 392 of the Criminal Code, should be dropped as there is not enough evidence [against the accused],” the court said...

“Dropping the charges is the provision of justice for me as I had argued since the beginning that the allegation is not true because I have not done as accused,” said Moeun Tola, who is executive director of the NGO the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (Central)...