TEN Cambodian environmental activists whose group campaigned against destructive infrastructure projects and corruption were each sentenced today to six years in prison for conspiring against the state.

Three of the members of Mother Nature Cambodia were also convicted of insulting King Norodom Sihamoni, for which they received a further two years in jail.

Five defendants attended the trial, the others being convicted in absentia. The latter included four Cambodians whose whereabouts are unknown and Spanish national Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who co-founded the group. He was deported in 2015 and barred from ever returning to Cambodia.

The five in the dock were arrested outside the municipal court in the capital Phnom Penh after the verdict and sentences were issued. They had marched there with supporters, dressed in traditional white clothing worn at funerals, which they said represented the death of justice in Cambodia.

Activist Phun Keoraksmey, 22, whose mother was by her side, said: “I never want to go back to jail because I never did anything wrong. But I will never run from what I am responsible for. I chose this way, I chose this path.”

Cambodian human rights group Licadho said: “It is astounding that Cambodian authorities are convicting youth activities advocating for clean water in Phnom Penh, protecting mangrove forests in Koh Kong and warning against the privatisation of land in protected areas and presenting it as an attack against the state.”

Mother Nature Cambodia, founded in 2012, lost it registration as a non-governmental organisation in 2017 but its members vowed to carry on, with some spending time behind bars in recent years.

Last year it was the co-winner of the Right Livelihood Award, issued by a Stockholm-based foundation to those working to “safeguard the dignity and livelihoods of communities around the world.”