SRP activist in Siem Reap seriously injured from beating

SRP activist Oeur Sambuor rests at the Sotr Nikum district hospital, Siem Reap province, on 05 August 2009 (Photo: Savyouth, RFA)

05 August 2009
By Savyouth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

An elder SRP commune activist from Sotr Nikum district, Siem Reap province, was serious injured when, recently, a group of unknown people sneaked and beat him, with the intention of killing him.

64-year-old Oeur Sambuor, a SRP activist from Damrey Kaun village, Popel commune, Sotr Nikum district, who is currently being hospitalized , said on Wednesday morning that a group of unknown people beat him until he lost consciousness in the evening of 03 August when he couldn’t sleep inside his house, and he came out to sleep in another bed underneath the house.

Oeur Sambuor indicated that: “I couldn’t sleep in the early evening. At around 10PM, I left my grandchild to sleep inside the house and I came out to sleep outside because it is cooler. I didn’t know why they came to beat me up, they used a hoe to beat me.

Oeur Sambuor is injured in several places on his head, one witness indicated that the assailants used a hoe to beat the victim.

Reaksa, an 11-year-old girl who stayed with her grandfather on the evening of the incident, said that she saw two assailants, but she couldn’t recognize their face. They beat up her grandfather underneath the house, then they fled the scene when she yelled for help.

A neighboring woman said that Oeur Sambuor if a SRP activist, but in the village, he never had any dispute with anybody because he is a layman and he also teaches religion to a large number of elder women in the village. “Here in Damrey Kaun village, we never have problem. He prayed at the meditation center, he is the chairman for religious training for elder women,” the neighbor woman said.

Suos Narin, an investigator for the Adhoc human rights group for Siem Reap province, came to investigate the case. He said that, based on his research, it may not be political hatred because Oeur Sambuor is not a popular activist here, and furthermore, this is not the election season either. “It seems to be more like a revenge case, it is not a political grudge,” Suos Narin said.

Heng Samnang, the deputy police inspector for Sotr Nikum district in charge of crime, considered this attack a premeditated murder attempt, but he said that it not related to political hated.

Heng Samnang added that based on investigation with the victim’s relatives, Oeur Sambuor used to have a land dispute with a group of people in Sna Pha’ek, Srayang commune, Kulen district, Preah Vihear province, when he went there to take over new land to plant rice.

The police indicated that it is contacting the Srayang commune to investigate this case further, and it will look for the assailants on this SRP activist.

Cambodian man torches nagging mother-in-law's house

Jun 6, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man tired of his mother-in-law's constant nagging was facing divorce and jail after he torched her house before shooting her in the leg with a bow and arrow usually used to kill frogs and toads, police and local media said Friday.

Heing Samnang, deputy police chief of Siem Reap's Sotnikom district, around 350 kilometres north-west of the capital, said Morm Savin, 34, was galled by 54-year-old Sean Khun's constant accusations.

Koh Santepheap newspaper said Khun had told the entire village that the only thing he had been able to acquire since he married was three children, and 'even saving for a fork or a glass had proven beyond him'.

Samnang said Savin stewed on her insults over 50 cents worth of rice wine before taking his revenge.

'It was from the heart because he beat neighbours who tried to help her with a stick,' he said.

Koh Santepheap reported Savin had then turned archer because, given the weapon's usual use, he felt it was the most appropriate weapon for the woman.

If convicted, Savin faces a minimum of five years in jail, and if not he faces his wife, police said.

Siem Reap students demonstrate against school principal

Students holding protest banners in front of the Dom Dek high school (Photo: Samnang, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

03 May 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A group of about 1,000 students from the Dom Dek high school, located on Sotr Nikum district, Siem Reap province, held a peaceful demonstration of Thursday 03 May morning, to protest the return to work of the school principal following an investigation conducted by an inspector of the Ministry of Education. The inspector decided to reinstate the involved school principal.

A representative of the student said that he and a large number of students cannot accept the return of Uong Kim Seung, the school principal, and San Sopheap, the school vice-principal, because the pair used violence and corporal punishments on students. The pair are also accused of inflicting cruelties on students, thereby creating an atmosphere of fear. “We do not accept this resolution, there must be a change of principal and vice-principal. We are not pleased with it because the repression [used by the pair] is too excessive.”

However, Uong Kim Seung said that he will return back to work on Friday 04 May. He insisted that he did not commit anything wrong that could lead to his suspension. “I am the principal, I am not involved in anything that could suspend me. I will return back to work from today on.”

Nea Sophon, the inspector of the Ministry of Education, who investigated the case, did not comment on the resolution to this problem. He said that he is only an investigator and he has no right to make any decision. “I cannot answer yet because I am only gathering information and report them to the higher up at the ministry [of education]. They are the one who decide, based on what I am doing, I cannot give any answer.”

Nevertheless, Tep Vuthy, a man who claimed to be the father of a student, said that he was displeased with the principal and vice-principal of the Dom Dek high school. He claimed that the school direction ordered him to pay in order to have his child name registered for taking exam. “When my son went from grade 9 to grade 10, they told me that my son does not have an identification card to take the exam. They ask me $100, it was teacher Phea. I asked them to lower the price. The teacher said that he cannot lower the price, he has to discuss it with the principal and vice-principal first. I want the removal of the principal and vice-principal…”

The dispute between the school direction and the parents of some students started since 29 March following the accusation made against the principal and his group who inflicted corporal punishment on Tan Sivorn, a male student, and they were also accused of inflicting a number of cruelties on a large number of other students.

On 24 April, a group of about 100 male and female students tried to meet with [CPP] MP Sieng Nam once already. At that time, the Ministry of Education and the deputy governor of Siem Reap province decided to temporarily suspend the school principal and vice-principal, while awaiting for an investigation from the Ministry of Education.