Mr. Prum Piseth, 40, the CCHR activist reported the event that that day 4 RCAF soldiers from Small Army Unit 1- Nov Choeun, 44, Prum Chheang, 43, Nget Vorn, alia Oeun, 45 and Sok Kosal, 47 went to the above village and cut down 17 mango trees, 3 jack trees, 2 coconut trees and 2 soursop trees, which belong to a village, named Man Samnang, 39. In addition Prum Chheang kicked the tree owner on his chest to fall over the ground, and also twisted his hand around.
He added that while those 4 men were doing the above action, he took a picture. Then one of them Nget Vorn was chasing him with a hooked knif from behind to chop him to death, but he escaped from them safely. However the soldier sreamed he would kill him someday.
In relation to the above land conflict, such a thing used to happen many times, he continued by adding that, the villagers’ land, where they presently live on, has been given to those soldiers from the Unit 11. However the division has been overlapped on the people’s land where they have been living here for a long time. As such the conflict does not just take place, it has occurred since 2001 because those RCAF soldiers asserted that they were provided with each plot of land in the area by their former commander. This has affected on about 300 families.
The intimidation of grabbing became normal for awhile; however, it has newly occurred. For instance, before that, the above villager was threatened by 4 soldiers to cut off her abdomen, rape and burn her house. Worried about that she has filed a complaint with Kampot Provincial Court and with some other local right groups, Adhoc and Licadho.
Mrs. Mam Samnang said that on February 1, 2010 those men [from Small Military Unit 11] came to her home and chopped down her 49 mango trees, 21 guava trees, 7 coconut trees, one lemon tree and one small sour orange tree. Furthermore they threatened to rape, cut apart her abdomen and burn her home if she did not agree to leave the area.
It has been seen that even though Prime Minister Hun Sen recently warned all RCAF soldiers all over the country to be away from grabbing villagers’ land, the case still exists in many parts of the country; especially the case in the village is an example.
The above act of those soldiers is seen to serverly break the law in Cambodia. It also violated human rights; such as right to life, right to self belongings and right to dignity as human being. This also abused the 2001 Land Law, Article 5 says, “No person may be deprived of his ownership, unless it is in the public interest. An ownership deprivation shall be carried out in accordance with the forms and procedures provided by law and regulations and after the payment of fair and just compensation in advance.”
Therefore the Cambodian government has to take immediate measurement to eradicate this criminal offense because it may become a bad example for others to do the same; and it will lead the country into social turbulence and insecurity. What is the wost thing is to affect the standard of living of people and their security.
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