Housing Activist To Remain in Jail, Supreme Court Rules

PHNOM PENH —  The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the detention order of a housing activist named Yorm Bopha, who is serving a three-year sentence in what supporters say is a threat against the freedom of assembly.

The court upheld a ruling from a lower court that she should remain in jail without bail.

Yorm Bopha, 29, is imprisoned on charges related to violent demonstrations over a development project in the Boeung Kak lake neighborhood of Phnom Penh, which has displaced some 4,000 families. She has appealed the verdict and requested she be released on bail.

She told reporters outside the court she believes she will eventually be freed.

“I would like to appeal to Boeung Kak lake land activists not to be disappointed,” she said. “You should fight for freedom.”

She was charged with “intentional violence,” an accusation that Amnesty International has called fabricated and lacking credible evidence.


More than 100 supporters demonstrated outside the court building, including her mother, who wept and cursed the court. “I need justice for my daughter,” she said.

Yorm Bopha’s husband, Lours Sakhorn, said he wife was innocent of the charges and should be freed.