Just four days after stepping out of Prey Sar prison thanks to a royal pardon, land activist Tep Vanny was back in court on Friday facing a charge related to a six-year-old case filed by a fellow Boeung Kak resident.
Vanny and five others received six-month suspended sentences over a ‘death threat’ complaint filed by Boeung Kak resident Ly Mom back in 2012.
Mon claimed that Vanny, Heng Mom, Chheng Leap, Kong Chantha, Tol Sreypov and Nget Khun, made death threats and insulted her.
Municipal Judge Bun Thy, however, dropped the insult charge.
Vanny was released from Prey Sar prison last Monday after obtaining a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni following a request from Prime Minister-designate Hun Sen.
She had been in jail for more than two years of a 30-month sentence after being convicted for her role in the violent 2013 protest near the prime minister’s residence.
Vanny said she would file a complaint with the appeal court against the verdict, which she said was unjust.
“The judge dropped the public insult charge, but he handed the six of us six-month terms on the death threat charge with all sentences suspended.
“We will file a complaint with the appeal court against the decision to prove our innocence, and show that we did not do [what Mon alleged],” she said.
