The Appeal Court has set a date to hear the case of 23 garment workers and unionists who were convicted in May in connection with violent protests calling for a doubling of the sector’s minimum wage.

Members of the group were convicted on various charges, but all had their sentences suspended to time served.

Human rights and legal aid groups said the trials were well below international standards.

The 23 – who were arrested in two separate incidents in early January – have been given a hearing at the Appeal Court on November 17.

Theng Savoeun, coordinator at the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers’ Community (CCFC), who was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and fined $2,000, said it was important to him the original guilty verdict was reversed.

“We cannot accept the decision of the lower court, because we are the victims,” he said.

However, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said that the government should not be blamed.

“The court decides based on legal facts,” he said.