A Cambodian woman who led protests against her community's forced eviction was sentenced Thursday to three years in jail on charges related to a street brawl.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court also ordered Yorm Bopha, 29, to pay compensation totalling 15,000 dollars to two motorcycle taxi drivers she was convicting of beating in the fight in September.
Human rights groups condemned the charges. Amnesty International has called Yorm Bopha a "prisoner of conscience" detained solely because of her activism. She has been held in prison since the brawl.
The charges were "trumped-up" and "baseless," and she "must be freed immediately," the group said last week.
Details of the incident that led to her arrest were not clear with some reports claiming the men were stealing mirrors off parked cars when she tried to stop them and the fight broke out.
Two of Yorm Bopha's brothers were handed equal prison sentences for their role in the brawl. They were tried in absentia because they have evaded capture.
Her case was brought as tensions between residents, authorities and companies in Phnom Penh over land use have risen in recent years as the government has granted concessions for large-scale development projects that have led to evictions.
Local rights groups estimated that more than 300,000 people across the country of 14 million have been forced off their land since 2004.
After Thursday's verdict was announced, Yorm Bopha proclaimed through tears that she was innocent.
"This is very unjust," she said. "This is a society ruled by the dollar. I hope someday I'll get justice."
Outside the courthouse, about 100 fellow activists began to wail when the verdict was announced. Two women, including a grandmother in her 70s, received electric shocks after trying to push past a group of riot police carrying electrified shields.
Yorm Bopha has been fighting her community's eviction in Phnom Penh for five years. The Chinese-backed developer Shukaku Inc, owned by a Cambodian senator, is trying to clear the 130-hectare area of residents to construct a residential and commercial complex.