CPP-controlled court sides with the powerful land thief

Provincial Court Rejects Land-Theft Complaint

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
13 May 2009

Sixty-one families from Kampong Chhnang province denounced the denial of a land-grab complaint by the provincial court on Wednesday, saying a clerk of court refused to receive it.

The families say they tried to file a suit against a private company, KDC International, for the theft of 80 hectares of rice fields and homes.

The families say they have filed suit multiple times since 2006, but the court has failed to take action.

Nhim Nhoeun, a representative of Lor Peang village, in Kampong Tralach district, said court clerk Heng Saman rejected the complaint.

Heng Saman declined comment, and KDC representatives could not be reached for comment. KDC has accused villagers in the past of stealing its land.

In January 2008, KDC bulldozed villagers’ houses on one plot of land, and more than one month later Kampong Chhnang provincial court sentenced two representatives of Lor Peang to prison following a suit filed by KDC.

One of the two villagers was sentenced to prison for up to 10 years on several charges stemming from the suit.

Toth Kimsroy, coordinator for the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee in Kampong Chhnang, who helped prepare the villagers’ suit, said he planned to help villagers forward a complaint to the Ministry of Justice early next week.

Is Hun Sen able to reign in on General Kao Try, his advisor, who is grabbing villagers' lands in Ratanakiri?

Ratanakiri villagers threaten to boycott 2008 election because of land disputes with Hun Sen’s advisor

10 September 2007
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheta

About 180 families of Jaray ethnic minority villagers living in 4 villages, located in 2 communes of O’Yadaw district, Ratanakiri province, warned that they will boycott the 2008 general election if the authority cannot resolve the land-grabbing of their 300-hectare of lands by General Kao Try, an advisor of prime minister Hun Sen.

This warning was issued on Sunday 09 September 2007 by representatives of the villagers, after they have protested with the local authorities three times already regarding the land disputes above. In August of this year, General Kao Try’s wife brought in a group of henchmen who painted the limits of (her) lands by encroaching on the land properties belonging to the villagers who lived there since 1979.

Pou Yong and Sev Lin, two representatives of the villagers said: “We took the community complaints to the government to have them resolve this issue quickly, otherwise, the villagers refuse to register to vote. General Kao Try used the names of poor villagers, he wants (our lands), he used his power and money to violate (the rights of) our ethnic minority group.”

RFA could not reach General Kao Try on Monday because his phone cannot be connected to. However, according to a copy of a document received by RFA from the representatives of the villagers, the 300-hectare of the lands belong to 60 alleged owners who are all living in Phnom Penh and various other provinces. The land title was issued in 1994, and Kao Try’s name appeared as an owner of a 5-hectare land also.

Muong Poy, the Ratanakiri provincial governor and chairman of the provincial committee for the resolution of land disputes said: “A report was sent to the ministry of Interior already, if there is no resolution, I will send it to the prime minister (Hun Sen) directly.”

Eng Chhay Eang, the vice-president of the National Authority for the Resolution of Land Disputes (NARLD) said: “The NARLD will resolve it. They (villagers) must go to vote, even if there is no resolution. They should go to vote for the party which will resolve this issue for them.

According to documents regarding the disputed lands which were sent to Moung Poy by a representative of the 60 alleged land owners, these owners demand to split the 300-hectare in two equal parts, excluding the lands occupied by the school, the commune office, and the village areas. The alleged owners demanded that the villagers move to live at a new location north of National Road 78, however, the villagers rejected this proposal, and they threatened to oppose the plan to use force to clear their lands and evicting them out of these areas.