Land Conflict between Soldiers, Local Authority and Villagers in Malai

A chronic land dispute has happened since 2004 between soldiers from Small Unit 51 and 338 families in Santepheap village, Tuol Pong Ror commune, Malai district, Banteay Meanchey province. At that time those soldiers, who were led by Preap Sarun, brought with tractors and bulldozers to clear and dug up the villagers’ land. The group was alleged to conspire with local authorities to grab 679.70 hectares of land from the families.

In relation to the above issues, those local villagers have lodged complaints with provincial authorities and Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court of First Instance many times, but they have been ignored. In addition to the victims of their land being infringed, 5 village representatives have been arrested and sent to jail by the court; and 10 villagers have been threatened and captured subsequently.

Once again on August 11, 2009 some of those affected families came to Phnom Penh city in order to file complaints with national authorities– Supreme Council of Magistracy, Prime Minster Hun Sen, Interior Minister Sar Keng, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Inspection and Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction– to seek their assistances against the above mentioned perpetrators and their partisans.