Two convicted Cambodians set free after illegally trespassing in Thailand

UBON RATCHATHANI, Jan 13 (MCOT online news) - Two Cambodians have been released after a Thai court sentenced them to two-year suspended jail terms for illegally trespassing into Thailand while they were collecting forest products.

Ubon Ratchathani Governor Prawat Ratirom accompanied two Cambodian villagers from Preah Vihear province to the Chong Sangam border crossing in Sisaket province to hand over the two Cambodian nationals to Preah Vihear deputy governor Sor Thavy who was waiting to receive them.

Both men were arrested by Thai soldiers as they collected forest products in the Phanom Dong Rak Mountain Range near Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province on Dec 29.

They were charged with illegally entering the Thai kingdom and were sentenced on Thursday to two months prison but the jail term was suspended and they were fined Bt2,500 each.

Opposition MPs plan to visit jailed villagers involved in border stakes uprooting on 18 May 2010

SRP MPs in front of the Svay Rieng jail during their previous visit to Mr. Prum Chea and Mrs. Meas Srey

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

Nevertheless, SRP MPs indicated that, soon, they will invite all the MPs from Kampong Cham province – including Heng Xamrin – to visit the border posts planted by the joint Khmer-Yuon border committee [in Kampong Cham] where the local villagers reported that Vietnam encroached in that region just like what they did in Svay Rieng also.

The opposition party sent a letter to the Svay Rieng provincial jail warden to ask for the authorization for 25 opposition MPs to visit 2 villagers who are currently jailed for their involvements in the uprooting of border stakes. The visit is planned for 18 May 2010.

Mrs. Ke Sovanroth, SRP Secretary-General, told the Free Press Magazine this morning: “We already sent the letter to the Svay Rieng provincial jail warden to visit Mr. Prum Chea and Mrs. Meas Srey. They are victims whom the SRP must pay attention to their health, as well as the wellbeing of the families.”

Mr. Prum Chea and Mrs. Meas Srey are Cambodian villagers form Koh Kban Kandal village, Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province, who were sentenced to 1-year of jail term on 27 January 2010 after they were charged with intentional destruction of Khmer-Yuon border stakes at post no. 185. The pair and opposition official Sam Rainsy uprooted border stakes planted right in the middle of rice fields belonging to these farmers on 25 October 2009.

The visit to the jailed villagers by opposition MPs is planned for 18 May 2010, and this will be the third time that these MPs are authorized to visit the prisoners in order to provide them with medicines, money and financial help for their families.

According to Mrs. Ke Sovanroth, the opposition MPs do not plan to revisit the location of the problematic border post no. 185 during their visit to Svay Rieng.

It should be noted that, up to now, the situation of the Khmer-Yuon border problem still remains tense and the Cambodian government always uses threats against those who dare tell the truth about the Vietnamese border encroachment into the Cambodian territories.

Nevertheless, SRP MPs indicated that, soon, they will invite all the MPs from Kampong Cham province – including Heng Xamrin – to visit the border posts planted by the joint Khmer-Yuon border committee [in Kampong Cham] where the local villagers reported that Vietnam encroached in that region just like what they did in Svay Rieng also.

Forestry Authorities Arrest Six Villagers [-The small fish get caught, the big fish get away free

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 October 2008

Forestry officials in Kampong Thom province arrested six villagers on Wednesday, accusing them of illegal settlement and deforestation.

The five men and one woman are representatives of a development village for disabled people in Son Touk district.

“Today, we are preparing a report seeking to prove that they have destroyed reserved forest resources,” Kampong Thom Deputy Governor Heng Sam An said. “We noticed they started destroying the forest since 2006.”

However, villagers say they had not settled illegally, and a human rights official called their arrests illegal.

“The arrests did not confirm with legal processes, because they did not have an arrest warrant,” said Ngoung Samoeurn, a provincial coordinator for the rights group Licadho.

Authorities and villagers have had a dispute over the area since earlier this year, following the investment of a Vietnamese company, Chin Bien, in a rubber plantation where the villagers were living, Ngoung Samoeurn said. “The conflict froze during the election period,” he said.

However, Heng Sam An said the villagers had not been arrested for settling in the investment area but had been occupying protected forest.

Around 90 villagers arrived in Kampong Thom town Thursday to protest the arrests.

“We have been living in that area since 2004,” said Neang Sinath, a representative of the villagers. “We were recognized by [Prime Minister] Hun Sen to create the village.”

“If they do not release our villagers, we will not go back home,” she said.

Heng Sam An said the villagers will be removed from their settlement to another site, a plan the villagers reject.

“They cannot live in the new place, because there is malaria and flooding in the area,” Ngoung Samoeurn said. “It is 20 kilometers from the actual village.”