Boeung Kak activists and family members of jailed protest leader Tep Vanny submitted a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet on Tuesday asking for her release or a reduction in her sentence.
Vanny is serving a 30-month prison sentence for a 2013 protest outside the premier’s house in Phnom Penh that turned violent. Additionally, she is serving a six-month sentence for a separate protest outside City Hall.
The same group had attempted to deliver the petition last week, but were told they needed to resubmit it with a copy of the Supreme Court’s final verdict on the 30-month conviction.
Huot Chansovann, Vanny’s sister, said authorities this time around accepted the petition, and she hoped the land activist will be released to reunite with her ailing mother and children.
“Samdech Hun Sen has helped many people and please help Vanny one more time, because now Vanny’s children and her mother are ill,” she said.
Kong Chamroeun, an officer at the Prime Minister's cabinet, said he accepted the petition and will review it according to the legal process.
“I got it, but we are still reviewing the contents of these files, and then we send it to the next level," he said. "I cannot talk about the results.”
