Labour Ministry seeks to drop charges against activist Moeun Tola

The Phnom Penh Post
Daphne Chen

Activist monk But Buntenh, labour rights campaigner Moeun Tola and independent media advocate Pa Nguon Teang have been charged with “breach of trust” over funds collected for Kem Ley’s funeral. The Ministry of Labour asked the court on Friday to drop the charges against Tola. Post Staff

The Ministry of Labour released a letter on Friday asking the court to drop charges against labour activist Moeun Tola, who is accused of misappropriating funds raised for slain political activist Kem Ley's funeral.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged Tola, as well as activist monk But Buntenh and independent media advocate Pa Nguon Teang, with "breach of trust" in January, despite the fact that Kem Ley's family members said none of the three had been involved in managing funeral funds. The charges were widely decried by rights groups.

Tola, who is outside of the country, said he suspects that pressure from clothing brands may have played a role.

Multiple apparel groups representing some of the largest US and European brands, including Gap and H&M, have urged the government to drop charges against him.

Another group, US apparel giant VF Corporation – which represents The North Face, JanSport and Timberland – also expressed concern about what it said were "recent actions that seem to undermine progress toward improving worker rights" in a meeting with the ministry last month.

Naly Pilorge at Licadho said she was not sure why the ministry made the request, but expressed hope that charges would be dropped, "urgently and in writing", against Tola, Buntenh and Teang.

Tola described the request as a "positive move", but said he is still awaiting an official decision from the court.

"I still maintain that I committed nothing wrong," Tola said. "I think there should be an official paper from the court and that the other two should be dropped too."

In its request to the court, the Labour Ministry does not explain its request or why it is not doing the same for the charges against Buntenh and Nguon Teang. Ministry spokesman Heng Sour could not immediately be reached.

Kem Ley was killed in July 2016 at a Phnom Penh service station. A former soldier was convicted of the crime, though Kem Ley's family charged that others were involved in the popular commentator's murder.