Land Dispute : Villagers to meet over Kandal row

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Land Dispute
Village representatives from Prek Sleng commune in Kandal province’s Kandal Stung district will attend a meeting at the district governor’s office Monday to discuss a 200-hectare plot of disputed land that has been awarded to the Heng Development Company, villagers said. Oeung Chanry, a village representative, said Sunday she had received a letter from district authorities inviting her to an 8:30am meeting after she and 17 other villagers delivered a complaint to Prime Minister Hun Sen Friday. “We filed a complaint to the prime minister in Phnom Penh because the authorities here do not care about us,” she said. On April 4, Heng Development Company dispatched bulldozers to the disputed land, a move that spurred some 400 villagers to block National Road 2 in protest. Eleven villagers were arrested during the demonstration. Lim Leang Se, the premier’s deputy chief of cabinet, said that Kandal Stung district Governor Choie Sobin would explain the situation to the villagers. “Hun Sen has recognised that Heng Development Company has ownership of that land because they have land titles,” he said.

Men flee arrest in Svay Rieng land dispute

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

POLICE in Svay Rieng province on Wednesday night tried and failed to arrest four men they have accused of being “ringleaders” in a protest related to a land dispute involving a rubber company, villagers and officials said.

On Sunday, Romeas Hek district police arrested Yea Yeoung immediately after the protest, accusing him of destroying police property and “briefly kidnapping” a representative of the Peam Chaing Rubber Company, which was granted a concession totalling nearly 4,000 hectares in the district in 2007. More than 400 families say the concession impinges on their land.

Yea Yeoung remains in police custody, and he has not been charged with any crime, Romeas Hek police Chief Chum Ry said Thursday.

Sam Dara, the police chief of Tras commune, where the disputed land is located, on Thursday confirmed reports from villagers that police officers had tried to arrest four more protesters on Wednesday night.

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Villagers take land dispute to Chea Sim

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

ABOUT 200 residents of Svay Rieng province involved in a land dispute with a rubber company travelled to the home of Senate President Chea Sim on Tuesday to protest the continued detention of one of their representatives, after Romeas Hek district police prevented them from going to Svay Rieng town, villagers said.

The same villagers on Monday staged a protest in front of the Romeas Hek district police office following the arrest of Yea Yeoung, whom authorities have accused of “briefly kidnapping” a company representative.

Prior to his arrest, Yea Yeoung had been advocating on behalf of more than 400 families who say they will lose their land to the Peam Chaing Rubber Company, which was granted a concession totalling nearly 4,000 hectares in 2007.

Upon arriving at Chea Sim’s home in Prey Veng province’s Komchay Mear district, the villagers presented the complaint they had prepared for Svay Rieng provincial officials to a woman who greeted them, villager Pao Chhat said.

Sorn Sam Oun, another villager, said it was just as well that they had been blocked from going to Svay Rieng town.

“We have filed complaints many times to the provincial governor, but they have never responded,” he said. “So we want Chea Sim to help us now. We have lost confidence with the provincial authorities.”

Romeas Hek Police Chief Chum Ry denied that his officers had blocked the road to Svay Rieng, but said the villagers should not travel to Svay Rieng in a large group. 

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Dey Krahorm families go to court

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

A LAWYER for 13 families who were evicted from the capital’s Dey Krahorm community last year appeared in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday in a bid to secure compensation from the development company that cleared their land and now occupies the site.

Te Chamnan, the lawyer for the 13 families, said his clients were called to the court to present information in their case against the 7NG development company, whose employees dismantled 144 homes in the Dey Krahorm community last year in one of the city’s most widely publicised forced evictions.

“The 7NG lawyer repeatedly asked me to clarify why these 13 families did not receive a home at the relocation site, and he said they will check this problem again,” Te Chamnan said.

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Publisher may file complaint over threat

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

THE publisher of a Khmer-language newspaper said Tuesday that he is considering filing a complaint with the Interior Ministry after receiving an anonymous letter on Sunday in which the writer threatened to kill him and his staff.

Soy Sopheap, publisher of Deum Ampil News (DAP) and a commentator for Bayon TV, said he suspects that the letter, delivered to his office by a man on a motorbike, was motivated by a series of stories printed in his paper.

“Now I am waiting to see how serious this is, and then I will file a complaint to the Ministry of Interior,” he said.

He said the threat had probably come in response to stories published in DAP accusing two men of fraud.

“I am not scared of the threat,” he said. “I wanted to laugh when I saw this letter, because we are no longer in a war regime.”

The Club of Cambodian Journalists issued a statement expressing concern about the threat, and called on authorities to arrest those responsible for the letter.

“CCJ considers the letter a serious threat,” the statement reads. 

Villagers meet for parley in land row

Ou Mom and May Titthara 
The Phnom Penh Post

Siem Reap Province
OFFICIALS in Siem Reap province on Thursday engaged for the first time with villagers embroiled in a land dispute that over the past 16 months has resulted in a shooting, two court cases, 12 arrests and – early last year – a mini-revolt that saw protesters briefly lock lawyers and judges inside the provincial courthouse.

At an all-day “Peace Table” forum convened by the Community Legal Education Centre, residents from neighbouring Chi Kraeng and Anlong Samnor presented claims to land they have been fighting over since 1986.

Choung Ratana, secretary general of Siem Reap provincial hall, and Sok Bora, who represented the Justice Ministry, presided over the meeting along with CLEC lawyer and representative Huon Chun Dy. Conspicuously absent, however, were two businessmen whose recent claims to the land have ratcheted up tension between the two communes, ultimately fuelling a March 2009 shooting that left four Chi Kraeng villagers wounded.

After multiple rounds of presentations, the meeting ended inconclusively, with the officials in attendance saying little beyond praising the fact that discussions had unfolded civilly. The outcome frustrated those who have been pressing for a resolution.

“For this case, I think only Prime Minister Hun Sen can resolve it, because the provincial authorities have no interest in helping us,” said Kao Soupha, a lawyer who last June brought a complaint on behalf of the four men injured in the March 2009 altercation against military police officers accused by witnesses of opening fire on demonstrators.

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Official rejects NGO land claim

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

THE governor of a district in Preah Sihanouk province where farmers squared off with NGO workers over farmland earlier this week said Thursday that the group’s director had been unable to show sufficient documentation supporting its claim.

Kampong Seila district Governor Kheng Teng said he had ordered Touch Seouly of the Kampong Speu-based Cambodia Disabled Survivors’ Association to present documents proving he had been awarded contested land in Kampong Speu, Kampot and Preah Sihanouk provinces, and that a meeting was held Thursday.

“On the document, the [Kampong Speu] provincial authorities allow the development of land on about 1,500 hectares, some of which is in Preah Sihanouk province, but it is only signed by the Kampong Speu provincial governor,” he said.

“It must be signed by all three provincial governors,” he added.

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