Land activists yesterday submitted a petition to Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana asking for his intervention in the case of Tep Vanny, who is in pre-trial detention for her alleged role in a 2013 protest.

About 100 community members from Boeung Kak, Borei Keila and Phnom Penh’s railway community had attempted to enter the Justice Ministry to submit the petition, though police officials ultimately allowed only three of them inside. The petition said Vanny was innocent of the charges brought against her for allegedly inciting violence during a protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s residence near the Independence Monument.

It goes on to say that all the land activists at the time were empty-handed and did not have any weapons, and pins the violence that injured about a dozen activists on local authorities.

“I hope that the ministry was not created for wasting the national budget, but was created for solving the problems of the people,” said Boeung Kak resident Bov Sophea.

Vanny’s lawyer, Sam Sokunthea, yesterday said Vanny would appear at the Supreme Court on January 18 to request bail in the same case.