More questioning for Hun Sen assistant, bodyguards

Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

A personal assistant of Prime Minister Hun Sen and a trio of associates accused of beating four men in Koh Kong province over the weekend were sent to provincial court for further questioning yesterday.

Lay Menglaing, chief of minor crime police in Koh Kong, said on Tuesday that Bun Sokha, an assistant to Hun Sen as well as deputy chief of staff in the premier’s bodyguard unit, along with his two bodyguards and a driver were charged by police under article 218 of the penal law with “intentional acts of violence with aggravating circumstances”.

“We sent them to the court at 10:15am,” he said. “They told us that they used only hands and legs to beat the victims, not electric batons, but the camera at the hotel showed they used an electric baton and also pointed a gun at them.”

No peeking on the villa built with corruption money

A woman uses a treadmill on Thursday at AusFit, a fitness centre atop the Skyline Apartments in Chamkarmon district that overlooks Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom Penh residence (centre). The gym is scheduled to close at the end of the month because, the owner says, government officials have expressed concern that it poses a national security risk. (Photo by: Rick Valenzuela)
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s home, as seen from the AusFit gym. (Photo by: Rick Valenzuela)

AusFit reportedly to be evicted over ‘national security’ concerns

Friday, 07 May 2010
Brooke Lewis and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

THE owner of a gym on the ninth floor of the Skyline Apartments, which overlook Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom Penh villa, said Thursday that local police have ordered him to relocate due to “national security” concerns.

Richard Chin said local police informed him “a couple months ago” that he would need to vacate by the end of May, despite the fact that he is less than one year into his five-year lease. Last week, he posted a letter notifying clients of the AusFit gym that “Cambodian National Security” told him he would be held “accountable for any incidents related to government personnel safety due to the apartment’s rooftop access”.

“I have been left with no option but to agree with the termination of the lease with Skyline Apartments and to relocate,” the letter states.

Asked about the notice Thursday, Chin said: “The reason the national security want to kick us out is because they believe AusFit is a breeding ground for terrorists.”

“I’m not sure of the real reason they want us out, but they definitely want us out quickly,” he added.

Lean Jardin, the manager of Skyline Apartments, confirmed that AusFit would be relocated at the end of the month, but said she could not comment on why the lease had been cut short.

Photo by: Rick Valenzuela
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s home, as seen from the AusFit gym.She also said that a gym would “remain open exclusively for Skyline residents”.

City officials on Thursday could not confirm that Chin had been ordered to move.

Om Yentieng, deputy chairman of the National Counter-terrorism Committee, said he could provide “no information related to terrorists in skyscrapers that cause concern about the security at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house”.

Khath Narith, the chief of Tonle Bassac commune, where the apartment building is located, said he was not aware of local police ordering AusFit to move, but he did note that local authorities had advised the owners of all tall buildings in the area to closely monitor customers and residents.

“We have advised the owners of skyscrapers and hotels that they have to be careful before renting their apartments, and to examine customers’ attitudes, and if they note something strange happening, they have to report it to the local authorities,” he said.

“It is an advance campaign to prevent an accident that would occur from terrorist activity. We didn’t ask people to move from their apartments,” he added.

Chin said AusFit would reopen at the De Castle Diamond condominium complex in Tuol Kork district in June.

Freedom Prize Laureate Sam Rainsy’s Speech at The Liberal International 56th Congress

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy

FREEDOM PRIZE LAUREATE SAM RAINSY’S SPEECH AT THE LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL 56th CONGRESS

PRESENTATION OF BOOK “25 YEARS PRIZE FOR FREEDOM”

31 October 2009 - Cairo, Egypt

Aung San Suu Kyi, Vaclav Havel, Benazir Bhutto, Corazon Aquino, Mary Robinson, Martin Lee, who doesn’t know these inspiring figures who have made the world’s recent history? They were also recipients of the Liberal International Prize for Freedom.

Today we are launching a book to celebrate 25 years of LI Prize for Freedom.

Founded in 1985, the Prize had 26 laureates (there were two laureates in 1991).

I was honored to receive the Prize in 2006 in Marrakech (Morocco).

Now, I am humbled to also, in a way, represent the other laureates at this ceremony.

They are, or were, most distinguished people who deserved the Prize much more than me.

But I am here because nobody else could come to Cairo today…

Let me first recall the origins, backgrounds and main features of the 26 laureates.

In terms of gender, there were sixteen males and ten females.

In terms of geographic origin, the laureates represented 25 nationalities (two of them were from South Africa).

In terms of occupation and professional background, there were 19 politicians also known as human rights advocates, and seven persons from the civil society including three human rights activists and four other persons: a scientist, a scholar, a writer and a poet who all worked for peace and freedom.

Are all the laureates still alive? 23 are still alive. Three have passed away: Raul Alfonsin (Argentina), Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan) and Corazon Aquino (Philippines).

Those who are still alive, what are they doing now? Most of them are old now – for sure older than 25 years ago – but they are still active in defending liberal values and ideals. One of them is the current president of Senegal, Mr Abdoulaye Wade. Two are in jail or under house arrest (Aung San Suu Kyi). Four are leaders of the opposition in their respective countries, including myself.

To fully understand the meaning and the importance of the LI Prize for Freedom, I invite you to read the book introduction by our president John Lord Alderdice.

“The Prize for Freedom was to be awarded to those who had struggled for Freedom in some of the most difficult and challenging political environments for Liberals around the world.”

“The Award would provide encouragement, recognition, in some cases, a degree of protection, since it would warn authoritarian regimes that moves against a Prize for Freedom Laureate would produce a storm of protest from liberals around the world.”

I fully subscribe to what John Alderdice wrote in his introduction.

I would add that, at least in my case, the Prize was not given to an individual. It was to honor a just cause in a particular context.

The cause is the defense of liberal values, above all Freedom that we all cherish.

The context for me was Cambodia.

The Prize was not given to me as an individual. I just received it, as the head of a team, on behalf of countless known and unknown colleagues and friends who had made sacrifices while serving the cause of freedom.

Founded in 1995, the political party that I lead in Cambodia, the SRP, is now the country’s second largest party and we will become, God willing, the number one party in a not too distant future.

But as of today, over eighty members of my party have been assassinated. Countless others have been injured, arrested, jailed, or forced to go into hiding or into exile.

I can never forget those who have been killed, sometimes in front of my eyes.

I have attended too many funerals. I would prefer not to receive any prize or award at all if I only could stop attending unnecessary funerals.

But things being as they are, the LI Prize for Freedom is a useful recognition of our legitimate fight and a powerful encouragement to us to go on fighting our uphill battle against a powerful dictatorship. The Prize gives us more courage and strength in the face of dictators who use the state media they control to denounce us as “traitors”, “anarchists” or “hooligans.”

Such a prestigious international award as the LI Prize for Freedom gives us legitimacy and honorability in the eyes of the whole world. It gives us irrefutable international credentials as democrats fighting for freedom, and that proves to be an invaluable protection against assaults from dictators who just want to eliminate us.

Thank you.

'Involuntary resettlement' law in the works: officials [-After countless number of illegal evictions?]

Illegal eviction: A legacy of the Hun Sen regime

Friday, 23 January 2009
Written by Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Legislation proposed to provide national framework for resettlement and compensation of families displaced by government development projects.

GOVERNMENT officials are working on a national mechanism to guide the compensation of those who lose land or housing to state development projects, saying that a draft expropriatory law is set to come before the National Assembly later this year.

"Cambodia's laws and policies do not adequately address resettlement issues," said Sim Samnang, deputy director of the Resettlement Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance at a Wednesday workshop on involuntary resettlements. "There is a need for a national resettlement policy."

He said that the law, now under review by the Council of Ministers, will help guide resettlement and compensation for those affected by major development projects, including the Japanese government-funded reconstruction of National Route 1 into Phnom Penh.

Sim Samnang said that a lack of national regulatory framework for housing resettlements means authorities have so far followed international donors' standards on the issue of involuntary resettlement resulting from the road project.

Key highway

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided around US$80 million to expand a 56-kilometre stretch of National Route 1 linking Phnom Penh with a planned bridge over the Mekong at Neak Leung, according to a JICA presentation at Wednesday's workshop.

The construction, in its second phase, has affected 4,180 families so far, 285 of which have been resettled, the presentation showed, with phase three due to start next month.

Kazuhiro Yoneda, JICA's chief representative in Cambodia, said that during the study and implementation of the project, the problem of involuntary resettlements was a serious concern for officials.

"Involuntary resettlement becomes a bigger and bigger issue every day ... due to the weakness of the legal system," he said.

Nhean Leng, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance and chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Resettlement Committee, said around 8,000 roadside families would ultimately be affected by the road rehabilitation project, and that 4,000 had already been offered compensation, rejecting criticism.

"Law enforcement in Cambodia is still weak, so the majority of people do not understand our policy, which leads numbers of NGOs to incite people to file complaints," he said, adding that the law had been under consideration since 2006.

"In the near future, there will be a national mechanism to resolve socioeconomic impacts caused by government development projects."

Security forces in Cambodia forcibly evict 300 families

Villagers' possessions and animals strewn around burning cottages; villagers reported armed forces looted belongings, including chickens, during the 2-day-long forced eviction. (All photos: Licadho)
LICADHO briefly gained access to site on first night of eviction and saw dozens of freshly-burnt houses while families, including children, were sleeping next to still-smoking ashes.
The forced eviction was carried out by a mixed group of about 100 RCAF Brigade 31 soldiers, forestry officers, environment officers, police and military police. Most of them were armed with handguns or AK-47s.
When LICADHO was officially allowed to enter the area in the late afternoon on the second day of the eviction, military soldiers had been ordered out of the site; the few remaining soldiers disappeared into surrounding forest or quickly removed their military shirts as NGOs arrived.

20 November 2008
Amnesty International

Security forces in Kampot Province, southern Cambodia this week forcibly evicted around 300 families and burnt their homes to the ground.

Around 100 soldiers, police, military police and Forestry Administration officials took part in the forced eviction in Anlong Krom village in the Chhuk District.

The largest group present belonged to Brigade 31 of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. It has been reported that they were carrying firearms including AK47s and handguns.

Around 130 houses, mostly thatched huts built with straw and leaves, were burnt down on 17 November, leaving homeless families spending the night in the open. Many slept on the ashes of their homes. The security forces burnt down the remaining 170 houses the following day.

“The immediate priority is for authorities to provide emergency relief, including adequate shelter, food, clean water and medical assistance to the homeless families from Anlong Krom village. Then the government needs to ensure they have access to adequate alternative accommodation and compensation, and conduct a full inquiry into how they lost their homes,” said Brittis Edman, Amnesty International's Cambodia researcher.

Amnesty International has learnt that members of the mixed force beat and kicked many of the villagers. Three people had to be taken to hospital for their injuries.

At no time during the two days were villagers or human rights monitors shown any documentation providing for the legal basis for the eviction.

"There was no prior notice, no eviction order, no court decision. This eviction speaks volumes about the state of rule of law in Cambodia," said Brittis Edman.

According to human rights monitors, the local authorities claim that the village is an illegal settlement; poor farmers have settled on the land there, which they thought was vacant. Some families have told human rights workers they moved onto the land up to six years ago, while others have settled there more recently. Many of the settlers are believed to have been landless and the community in Anlong Krom was living in poverty.

At least 3,100 families, or approximately 15,000 people, have been affected by forced evictions in Cambodia so far this year. Some 150,000 Cambodians are known to be living at risk of forced eviction in the wake of land disputes, land grabbing, agro-industrial and urban redevelopment projects.

The Cambodian government has an obligation under international law to protect the population against forced evictions. Whether they are owners, renters or illegal settlers, everyone should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. The prohibition on forced evictions does not, however, apply to evictions carried out by force in accordance with the law and in conformity with international human rights law.

Amnesty International is urging the Cambodian authorities to end all forced evictions and declare and introduce a moratorium for all mass evictions until legislative and policy measures are in place to ensure that evictions are conducted only in full compliance with international human rights laws and standards.