By Lauren Crothers

PHNIOM PENH

A Spanish academic was deported from Cambodia overnight Wednesday for participating in a protest calling for the release of two activists detained during a “Black Monday” protest.

The two members of the Boeung Kak land rights community, Tep Vanny and Bov Sophea, are part of a group that has been staging the protests since May, when four human rights defenders and an election official were imprisoned ahead of what critics say is a politically motivated trial.

Vanny and Sophea were arrested and detained Monday. On Wednesday, according to the Phnom Penh Post, Vanny and Sophea were charged by a judge with “provocation to commit crimes” and they would be held until their fast-tracked trial continues next week.

Marga Bujosa Segado, a researcher who lived in the same community as the women, was initially detained by police Tuesday after she attended a protest outside a police station calling for the release of Vanny and Sophea, who were being held inside. Speaking to Anadolu Agency from Bangkok on Thursday, Segado said her detention on Tuesday lasted nine hours and that she refused to sign a document that was written in Khmer.

 

read more http://aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/cambodia-deports-academic-after-activists-jailed/630954

Send them home!