Government denies arresting environmental activists

After staging protests against the establishment of a $400 million Chinese dam project in the Chhay Areng region in 2015, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson was deported from Cambodia.

The incident led to the rise of a new generation of young Khmer activists to demand against building the dam, as well as promoting other environmental causes.

Phay Siphan, the Royal Government Spokesman, explained that the authorities had arrested and deported Gonzalez-Davidson and not workers with the “Mother Nature” NGO, refuting accusations of a crackdown on environmental activists.

He said the authorities only arrested persons who would have operated under the title of environmental activists, but in reality, they would have been opposing the country’s monarch.

Ly Chandaravuth, who was a former Mother Nature activist said he was charged with treason for unsubstantiated allegations, adding that the interrogations were “vague.”