Two more Cambodians killed by Thai soldiers

16 March 2010
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Two additional Cambodians living in Banteay Meanchey province were shot and killed by Thai soldiers at two different incidents when they went to log wood in Thai territories or when they went to look for medicinal plants along the border.

The Phnom Penh Post reports today that a Cambodian man armed with an AK-47 rifle was shot and killed by Thai soldiers on Saturday when he joined 29 other villagers who went to log wood in Thailand’s Buriram province, neighboring Cambodia’s Thmor Puok district, Banteay Meanchey province.

Ung Oeun, the Banteay Meanchey provincial governor, told The Phnom Penh Post at the beginning of this week that 30 Cambodians, including the man armed with an AK-47 rifle, crossed the border to enter Thailand’s Buriram province on 13 March, to log wood. They were shot by patrolling Thai soldiers, and the man holding the rifle died on the spot. The other Cambodians fled back to Cambodia.

The INN newspaper reported this week that Thai soldiers found a group of armed man wearing Cambodian army uniforms logging wood inside Thailand, an armed clash ensued and the armed Cambodian man was killed. Thai soldiers suspected that the dead man was a Cambodian soldier.

Ung Oeun rejected this INN story, claiming that the 30 villagers who crossed into Thailand are ordinary citizens and they are not soldiers. He declared: “We recognize that they crossed to Thailand illegally but they were wearing civilian clothes, they were not soldiers.” He added that the rifle held by the victim was an illegal firearm, but that the victim took it with him only to protect those went along with him.

On Sunday, 37-year-old Dy Chek living in Sre La’or village, Kok Romeat commune, Thmor Puok district, was shot by Thai soldiers on Dangrek Mountain when he went to look for medicinal plants. Mrs. Ron Chanla, the aunt of the victim, said that the wife of the victim and a group of villagers went to the mountain to look for his body.

Regarding these problems, Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicated that he ordered the Cambodian consul to investigate these cases of Thai soldiers killing Cambodian citizens. He did not provide any other comment, claiming that he did not receive information on these cases yet.

HRP calls on Thailand to stop killing Cambodian citizens

19 January 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

On 16 January, three MPs from the Human Rights Party wrote a letter to the Thai prime minister to express their hurtful feelings on the frequent shooting and killing of Cambodian citizens by Thai soldiers when these Cambodians illegally cross the border into Thailand. The HRP MPs explained to the Thai PM that, due to their poverty, a number of Cambodians are forced to cross the border illegally to work or to log trees in Thailand. In spite of their mistake, these Cambodian workers do not deserve to be shot at and killed. The HRP wrote: “According to International human rights law and the integrity maintained by our neighboring countries, it is never heard that any democratic country would shoot and kill citizens from another country just for illegally crossing the border.” The HRP MPs asked the Thai PM and Thai army leaders to use their national and international law rather than resorting to use weapons.”

Two Cambodian loggers shot, one missing in new Thai border incident

Jan 13, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian authorities said two Cambodian citizens logging illegally in Thailand have been shot dead by Thai troops and a third is missing, national media reported Wednesday.

The two dead men were in a party of 26 who crossed the border on January 10 in Oddar Meanchey province in north-west Cambodia, the Cambodia Daily newspaper quoted a senior army source as saying.

It was the latest in a series of shootings in the past four months in which Thai troops were accused of shooting Cambodians logging illegally and brings the number of dead to at least four.

Last week, the Cambodian government said it would station extra soldiers along the border in Oddar Meanchey to prevent its citizens from crossing illegally into Thailand. After the latest incident was reported, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the government would again increase its efforts.

'The government will build more checkpoints to prevent them and warn them from crossing the border illegally to prevent shootings,' he told the newspaper.

In the most infamous case, a 16-year-old died in September after he was shot and wounded, then allegedly tied to an ox cart while alive and set on fire by Thai soldiers. The Thai government later insisted the teenager had already died from gunshot wounds when troops burned his body.

Poverty is widespread in Cambodia and drives thousands to work in Thailand, often illegally.

The relationship between the two nations has been tense for more than a year with a number of clashes reported between troops from both countries over a disputed piece of land near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple in northern Cambodia.

Ties worsened late last year when Cambodia appointed Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to the government.

Cambodia boosts border troops to stop civilians entering Thailand

Mao Kleung, a Cambodian teenager, was shot by Thai soldiers (Photo: Khmer Sthapana)

Jan 8, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian military has stationed extra troops in a western border province to prevent people from crossing illegally into Thailand to fell trees, local media reported Friday.

A senior military officer in Oddar Meanchey province told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper the move came after a four-month period in which a number of Cambodian civilians had been shot, allegedly by Thai troops, after crossing illegally into Thailand to fell trees.

'We took this measure because we don't want to see Cambodian people shot or arrested and sent to Thai prisons,' said Nuon Nov, a regional deputy military commander.

Poverty is widespread in Cambodia and drives thousands to work in Thailand, often illegally, to earn money for their families back home.

In the most infamous case, a 16-year-old died in September after he was shot and wounded, then allegedly tied to an ox-cart while alive and burned to death by Thai soldiers. The Thai government later insisted the teenager had already died from gunshot wounds when troops burned his body.

Nuon Nov said troop numbers were bolstered this week and on the first day alone 60 civilians had been stopped from crossing the border.

'We brought these people back to be re-educated [about the dangers], and we also punished them to dig trenches for one week,' he said. 'Otherwise, they will not be afraid.'

Last month, the Cambodian government instructed provincial authorities to do more to stop people crossing illegally into Thailand.

The relationship between the two nations has been tense for more than a year with a number of clashes reported between troops from both countries over a disputed piece of land near the Preah Vihear temple in northern Cambodia.

Ties worsened late last year when Cambodia appointed Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to the government.

Thai soldiers again accused of shooting dead Cambodian logger

Dec 11, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Thai troops shot dead a Cambodian man who crossed into Thailand to fell trees illegally, local media reported Friday.

Phlok Lai, 55, is the third Cambodian national to be shot and killed by Thai troops in the past three months.

District police chief Keo Tann said another man in the group of 10 was seriously injured while a third is missing after the incident late Tuesday. The remaining seven made it back safely to Cambodia.

'The Thai officers at the border said they would find the missing man if we ordered people to refrain from going to Thailand to log illegally,' Keo Tann told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

Earlier this month a Cambodian man was shot dead by Thai soldiers while illegally logging inside Thailand. In the most notorious case Thai soldiers were accused of shooting and then burning alive a 16-year-old Cambodian youth in September. Thailand denied the youth was burned alive.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong described the Thai soldiers' behaviour as 'very cruel.'

'In previous years the Thai military would just arrest our people who were illegally crossing the border and sentence them to jail,' he said. 'But now they are shooting our people.'

Earlier this week the Cambodian government warned its citizens living along the 800-kilometre long border, much of which has yet to be officially demarcated, to avoid crossing the border into Thailand.

The shootings come at a time of heightened tensions between the two nations. Both withdrew their ambassadors last month after Cambodia appointed Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to the Cambodian government.

Cambodia and Thailand also have a long-standing dispute over the land surrounding the ancient Preah Vihear temple in northern Cambodia. Over the past 18 months clashes between troops at Preah Vihear have cost the lives of at least seven soldiers.

Body of man gunned down by Thai troops returned to family

Friday, 05 September 2008
Written by Thet Sambath and Yun Vann
The Phnom Penh Post

The 28-year-old was killed in a cross-border drug deal gone wrong that also wounded a Thai trooper, police say, promising investigation

FRONTIER JUSTICE
Poipet border authorities say the last shooting of a Cambodian near the border occurred two years ago when a man was killed by Thai police while attempting to cross through an illegal corridor often used by smugglers. THE body of a Cambodian man reportedly killed by Thai soldiers while trying to make a drug deal across the border from Banteay Meanchey province's O'Chrov district was repatriated Thursday.

Police said that Hel Touch, 28, from Prek Chan village, O'Beichoarn commune, was trying to deal narcotics with Thai soldiers when he was shot Tuesday night. His two accomplices escaped, provincial police commissioner Hun Hean told the Post.

Hun Hean said that Hel Touch tried to kill three Thai soldiers by throwing a grenade at them after the deal went bad. The grenade explosion wounded Hel Touch and slightly hurt one of the soldiers, who then fatally shot the Cambodian, Hun Hean added.

"We are still not sure about the accuracy of the Thai authority's report. We will investigate it more thoroughly," said Sam Chit, Banteay Meanchey province's deputy police chief.He added that Thai police had said the desceased and his accomplices were also involved in smuggling stolen motorbikes and cars.

Hel Touch's body was handed over to Cambodian authorities at the Poipet border crossing, where relatives were waiting to bring the him to their village for a funeral ceremony, according to Tim Sareth, deputy chief of the Thai-Cambodian Relations Office.

Chhouk Ang, commander of Border Police Battalion 911 stationed north of Poipet, did not attribute the killing to military tensions along the border.

He said the situation has been normal despite the standoff between Cambodia and Thailand over disputed territory.