"Three Land Rights Activists Detained, Questioned by Police After Organizing Training Workshop", 18 May 2023

Kratie authorities detained and questioned 17 members of the land rights organization Coalition of Cambodia Farmers Community (CCFC) … as the group returned to Phnom Penh by bus from a staff training workshop hosted in Ratanakiri.

At least three of the detained coalition members — CCFC’s president Theng Savoeun and senior officer Nhel Pheap and project officer Thach Hach — were held overnight and then transferred to Ratanakiri Thursday morning for further questioning, according to Ratanakiri provincial governor Nhem Sam Oeun. CCFC staff and human rights NGOs Licadho and Adhoc confirmed the three CCFC staff had been detained…

Sam Oeun, Ratanakiri governor, said the purpose of the three CCFC staff’s ongoing detention was to question the coalition members about the purpose and content of the training.

“We found out and he [Savoeun] answered that what they are doing in the meeting is normal,” Sam Oeun said. “But in his [Savoeun’s] meeting, there was a lot hidden.”

… CCFC held a workshop in Ratanakiri … with 39 participants who were CCFC staff, some of whom also brought their spouses and children, according to CCFC official Mey Vuthy…

Vuthy said the training workshop was held twice a year and focused on discussions about how to strengthen CCFC’s projects and advocacy for land rights and issues affecting farmers.

… Adhoc spokesperson Soeung Senkarun said that if the workshop was to discuss CCFC’s work and past advocacy projects then there was nothing illegal happening.

… Savoeun, CCFC’s president, was previously arrested in 2014 following large protests and spent 5 months in prison, …