The Phnom Penh Appeal Court today announced its verdict upholding criminal charges against four out of 10 people who were arrested in front of Phnom Penh's Yak Jin garment factory on 2 January 2014, one day before the violence that took place along Veng Sreng Boulevard in January 2014. The strike was notoriously shut down on 3 January 2014 when mixed government forces opened fire on the striking workers.

The 10 workers were convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2014 of instigating intentional acts of violence with aggravating circumstances, contrary to Articles 28 and 218 of the Criminal Code. Out of the 10 defendants, only four (Chan Puthisak, a Boeung Kak Lake land activist; Theng Savoeun, President of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC); Sokun Sambath Piseth, a former staff member at Center for Labor Rights of Cambodia; and Vorn Pao, President of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA)) appealed their sentences.

The Appeal Court upheld the Municipal Court’s decision to sentence Theng Savoeun to four years’ imprisonment, as well as its sentences of four years and six months for Chan Puthisak, Sokun Sambath Piseth, and Vorn Pao, all of which were suspended by the lower court. All four had already spent between 3 January and 30 May 2014 in prison. The Appeal Court also dropped the 8 million riel fine (around US $2,000) imposed by the lower court on all four defendants.

In the violence on Veng Sreng Boulevard in 2014, mixed government forces shot dead at least four civilians, wounded at least 38 others, and arrested 23 workers and human rights defenders. Khem Sophath, a 15-year-old garment worker, was tragically wounded and then disappeared from Veng Sreng Boulevard. Sophath remains missing to this day, and civil society continues to call for accountability for the violence and his disappearance. To date, the government has failed to provide any kind of thorough, independent and impartial investigation. Arrests of other workers have also been met with farcical appeals in recent years.