Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Villagers wrestled and reclaimed back two of them who were arrested by the cops

19 Dec 2011
By Suon Sophal Mony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soy
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

[KI-Media Note: We have a hard time translating this story because the original article in Khmer is somewhat confusing. Thank you!]

More than 30 villagers from Battambang province held a protest and were able to reclaim back 2 of the 4 villagers from the cops and officials from the Battambang court on 19 Dec 2011.

The protest and reclaim of villagers took place when the Battambang tribunal summoned 4 villagers for questioning regarding a land dispute case in Ratanak Mondul district.

More than 30 villagers – both men and women – were able to wrestle back 2 of the villagers from the cops from in front of the court building after the judge decided to send 2 of the 4 villagers to jail. 2 villagers showed up in court to clarify the criminal case no 525, dated 26 July 2011 which was brought up by an army officer.

The army officer accused 4 villagers of violating and occupying someone else’s real estate – a parcel of 100 hectares located in Kilo 13 village, Treng commune, Ratanak Mondul district, Battambang province. In this case, the court decided to detain two villagers: (1) Iv Kheang and (2) Yorng Kim On after their questioning.


Nuon San, the prosecutor of the Battambang tribunal, intervened to have the two villagers released and they will have to wait for their next summons.

During the violence to wrestle back 2 villagers who were handcuffed by the cops, the cops arrested and detained another villager by the name of Khen. The cops accused this villager of fighting with the cops.

Mrs. Iv Kheang, a 48-year-old villager, declared before the arrest that Keo Saran, an army officer, sued 4 villagers at the beginning of July 2011 in regards to a land dispute case involving 100 hectares of land located in Ta Trou Hill, Kilo 38 village, Treng commune, Ratanak Mondul district, Battambang province. In fact, 43 families [lived on that parcel of land], but the army officer sued only 4 of them.

The 4 accused persons came to the court to clarify 3 times. A clerk for the investigating judge at the Battambang court tried to make the 4 villagers accept a smaller parcel of their land in order to end the lawsuit. However, Mrs. Iv Kheang and the other 3 villagers did not agree because the 100-hectares parcel of land is jointly occupied by 43 families and they all live there for a long time already.

Chhuon Chhean, a member of Kilo 38 village, issued a letter dated 02 July 2011, confirming that the 43 families had cleared the mine-infested land and grown their crops there since 1998 until now.

Yin Meng Ly, a facilitator for the Adhoc human rights organization, declared that the Battambang court should reclassify this case instead of calling it a criminal case, and the court should transfer the case to the land management committee to resolve this issue. He added that the villagers also complained to the department of land management as well and the latter must find who the real owner is.

Yin Meng Ly said: “The court should look at the documents, it should look at all aspects in the land dispute because the court did not even visit the parcel yet. The land is now cleared, the [claimed owner who is an army officer] did not ask to occupy the parcel, he has no documentation, he only has the claims made by the former village chief and his deputy who said that he occupied it. Then, we must look at the villagers livelihood and see how they live.”

The 2 villagers who were detained are: (1) 41-year-old Yonrg Kim On from Popeal Kher village, Chrey commune, Battambang city; and (2) 37-year-old Srey Nan from O’Tavao village, O’Tavao commune, Pailin province.

The other 2 villagers whom the cops were not able to detain are: (1) 40-year-old Soeung Pisey from Chey commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province; and (2) 48-yeal-old Iv Kheang from Kilo 38 village, Treng commune, Ratanak Mondul district, Battambang province.

Adhoc indicated that the disputed lands were farmland belonging to the villagers who lived about 1 km from there. However, the land happened to be a battle field with the KR in 1996. Subsequently, in 1999, the war ended and the villagers returned back to occupy their land again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ah hun sen government only protects the rich and the powerful. Land dispute will spill over to become a revolution by the people. Ha hun sen and his gangs will just die like other late dictators.