Injured victims of Siem Reap police shooting demand compensation

Injured victims of cops opening fire on protesting villagers in Chikreng commune, Siem Reap province (Photo: Savyouth, RFA)

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

Relatives of three men from Chikreng commune who were seriously injured following the shooting perpetrated by armed cops in Chikreng district stemming from a land dispute involving 90-hectare of rice field located in the Dike 78 Suong region, are looking for legal help to sue for compensation for their injured loved ones.

In the morning of Monday 23 March, Mrs. Cheng Hon said that Luon Vinh, her husband, was seriously injured by bullets (shot by the cops) and he is currently undergoing medical care at the Siem Reap province hospital. She said that she is currently suing the Chikreng district authority which is responsible for this case and she also said that each family of the victims demands $5,000 in damage compensation for their loved ones who were shot. The victims have contacted the Adhoc human rights group in Siem reap province to ask for its help to file the lawsuit against the shooting perpetrated by the cops: “My husband was shot twice, he was seriously injured and his knee cap was shattered. We ask $5,000 in compensation.”

The decision by the victim’s families to sue the cops was made one day after a joint civilian and military police forces opened fire on a group of villagers from Chikreng commune. The villagers came by the hundreds to hold a protest at the Dike 78 Suong because of a land dispute involving their rice fields. The shooting injured 4 villagers and 40 other villagers were arrested on the morning of 22 March.

Ty Sovinthal, the prosecutor for the Siem Reap court, denied involvement in the armed violence, he said that the shooting was not undertaken by his order. He said that he only traveled to the incident location based on the request made by the Chikreng district governor and the police inspector. He then went on to visit the incident location, but 3 kilometers away from his destination, he received the information that the cops were shooting at the villagers there.

Nevertheless, Ty Sovinthal added that he will order the cops to file a report so that the cops involved in the shooting will face the law. However, he also threatened to sue news reporters and RFA which published the information in which he allegedly led the cops during the shooting raid on the villagers.

Ty Sovinthal said: “If you can find that I arrived at the incident location, and I wrongfully ordered (the shooting), I agree to go to jail.”

Sou Phirin, the CPP Siem Reap provincial governor, said that in the case of the land dispute involving 90-hectare of rice field between villagers from Chikreng and Anlong Samnor communes, the provincial authority attempted to mediate this issue on several occasions already, he also regretted to see the shooting on the protesting villagers and the injuries inflicted on them. Therefore, the provincial authority will pay the medical bill for the villagers and it will continue to find a better solution to this land dispute: “The medical care cost will be paid by the provincial authority, these are poor [villagers].”

In the afternoon of 23 March, a group of provincial officials led by Sou Phirin himself, visited the incident location and they studied the land dispute in order to provide a new land subdivision.

On Monday evening, it was learnt that a number of villagers have disappeared following the shooting by the cops. Several hundred rounds of bullet were shot by the cops. As for the 40 villagers arrested by the cops, more than 30 of them were released and sent back home.

Pro-CPP 'Vietnamese Tycoon' Said Ordering Over 100 Houses in Kandal Bulldozed

24 May 08
By Vichheka
Samleng Yuveakchon Khmer
Translated from Khmer by Anonymous

The people whose houses were destroyed by a Vietnamese Oknha [tycoon] known by the Khmer name of Thong Sarath or and the Vietnamese name of Tung are living in fear as they do not know when Oknha Tung would resort to using violence against them again. The victims said that the money of this young Vietnamese tycoon Tung spoke very loud and could stop the authorities from intervening in their favor. Tung, the Vietnamese tycoon, can do whatever he likes, they said, such as bulldozing their houses in the night of 16 May. Since then, not a single member of the local authorities has visited the victims to expressed sympathy with them.

News sources reported that under the influence of the money of this Vietnamese tycoon named Tung three villagers have been jailed to these days because of the dispute over a piece of land claimed by the Vietnamese tycoon. The authorities from district to provincial levels have been afraid to protect the people as required by the law. This is because Vietnamese oknha Tung known under the Khmer name of Thong Sarath has bribed the Khmer officials at all levels. For this reason, no matter how bad the people have suffered, nothing can be done, for the authorities are under the monetary influence of this young Vietnamese tycoon named Tung.

According to some gossips floating among the people, Oknha Tung planned to sell that piece of land to the wife of Kun Kim, who is the head of Hun Sen's board of advisers. This land transaction is said to be prompted by Kun Kim's wife's desire to develop this property. Because there is a buyer, the Vietnamese tycoon has not hesitated to resort to the use of a strong-arm method in violation of the Cambodian law by forcibly evicting the people from their houses. On the contrary, if this were in Vietnam, such an act of forcible eviction would never happen so easily. But because of the money of this Vietnamese oknha the people have been repressed, and now they continue to live in fear.

The victimized people appear to be completely terrified. They are afraid even to meet and seek a way to retain that piece of land. They said that this land was given through the good offices of the government by Vietnamese Oknha Thong Sarath to the poor who were evacuated from various areas in Phnom Penh. The people who have lived on this land are in possession of proper documents showing that the land was given to them. This proves that the people have all the right to the land and are its true owners.

However, last May Vietnamese Oknha Tung, whose Khmer name is Thong Sarath and whose father is a Vietnamese known by the name of Thong Chamraeun, used a violent method to get the land by surreptitiously bulldozing the houses of the people in the middle of the night. During this incident none of the commune, district, or provincial authorities turned up to intervene and stop the act of breaking the Cambodian law committed by Oknha Tung. It is this official apathy that has frightened the people the most, for in some other places when the local people are in trouble the authorities unfailingly show up to help them. However, the authorities in S'ang district did not dare to oppose or protest against the act of breaking the Cambodian law committed by Vietnamese tycoon Tung. A villager scoffed with relatively harsh words that the Khmer big shots have all been sold out to the Vietnamese businessmen.

In the night of 16 May Vietnamese tycoon Thong Sarath ordered more than 100 houses of the residents of Svay Rolum commune, S'ang district, Kandal province to be leveled. The victims of this order did seek an intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen, but to no avail. For this reason, the people planned to rise up in another protest against Oknha Thong Sarath. If the Prime Minister does not help us, they said, we will go to the National Assembly and if the National Assembly cannot help, then we will seek the help of the civil society.

Some 100 families flocked to the lane leading to Prime Minister Hun Sen's mansion, voicing charges against the company of Vietnamese Oknha Thong Sarath and claiming that his company bulldozed their houses in the middle of the night without giving them any prior notice and without informing the local authorities or local police. They claimed that this company used its own security forces to conduct the raid.

Observers of various non-governmental organizations are waiting to see what the government is going to do before the elections when it wants the people to give it their ballots. It is believed that the Cambodian People's Party [CPP] would either grab the situation or ask its friend, the Vietnamese tycoon, to temporarily desist. And after the elections, this Vietnamese oknha will be free to seriously act again by shooting and killing the people and grab their land for sale. Right now, the Vietnamese tycoon has not yet used a really strong-arm method because he is afraid that the CPP would blame him for causing it to lose votes.

Authorities Ban Ratanakkiri Minority Demonstration

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
20 May 2008

Ratanakkiri provincial authorities are preventing a protest of ethnic minorities over a land dispute, officials said Monday.

More than 300 minority villagers, assisted by the rights group Adhoc, planned to hold a demonstration Friday, to protest alleged land grabs of more than 10,000 hectares and the arrests of two protesters in 2007.

But officials have denied the villagers permission, Ratanakkiri Deputy Police Chief Prey Chram said.

“Ratanakkiri authorities will not permit Adhoc and the minorities to hold a demonstration because we need to defend public security and order in advance of July’s national election,” he said, adding that the denial was not a suppression of rights.

Adhoc Ratanakkiri coordinator Pen Bunna said the authorities were violating the right to freedom of assembly and expression.

“We will hold a demonstration at our office to replace the march,” he said.

The gathering was an initial step on a complaint process that would lead to requests of the authorities to solve the increasing land disputes in the area, some of them perpetrated by local officials, he said.