Preah Vihear Deadly Eviction Aftermaths

Click here to read Licadho's Statement and Story behind this savage eviction

The day after the eviction,authorities were still in heavy force throughout the area. In the background is a vehicle laden with bicycles and other property looted from the eviction families' home. (All Photos: Licadho)
Two of the many armed soldiers left behind 28 hours after the incident. The man standing is plucking a chicken that was taken from the community.
Armed police officers were assigned to follow LICADHO human rights investigators who came on site two days after the shooting.
Houses were looted by authorities and subsequently burned down; remains were still smoldering on the second day after the deadly eviction.
Amid the chaos of the eviction villagers were caught by surprise and had no time to collect any of their belongings.
The site where Oeun Eng's body was quickly cremated, on police instructions, without a proper Buddhist ceremony.
The site where Toeun Chheng's body was hastily buried in a shallow grave, on the orders of police.

In Deadly Dispute, Forces Looted Homes, Stole More Land, Villagers Say

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
16 November 2007

Authorities used a land grab clash in Preah Vihear province to confiscate even more land from angry villagers, witnesses and opposition leaders said Friday.

Violence between villagers and police this week left two people dead and five injured in Preah Vihear, following the alleged sale of villager land to business interests.

Some residents are now without homes and separated from their families, witnesses said.

Authorities also cremated the bodies of two people killed in the dispute, Sam Rainsy Party commune council chief Long Ri said.

"The two bodies were cremated, and I heard that the bodies were not completely burned when they were taken to burial at the mountain," he said.

Preah Vihear Deputy Governor Sor Sam Ol said the people were not living in proper homes, "some were without walls and some others without the roof."

"I acknowledged that the authorities seized some things," he said, "but those are just knives and axes those villagers used as their weapons."

Sor Sam Ath, an investigation officer for the rights group Licadho, no relation to Sar Sam Ol, said his agency worried that some people were still missing, "probably in the jungle."