A Cambodian court convicts activists for teaching about class differences, suspends their jail terms

By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A court in Cambodia has convicted four land rights activists of plotting to provoke a peasant revolution by teaching farmers about class divisions and has given them five-year suspended prison terms.  The four, who worked for the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, were arrested and charged in May last year by the Ratanakiri provincial court in northeastern Cambodia. They were charged with plotting against the state and incitement to commit a felony by allegedly teaching about the class differences between rich and poor. Interior Ministry spokesperson Gen. Khieu Sopheak said at the time that their activities violated the law and deviated from their group’s main duty of teaching farmers more productive agricultural techniques.