Land Representative Arrested in Battambang

On August 9, 2010, a villager representative in a land conflict was arrested by Battambang provincial police when he and other three deserters appeared in the village, Daun Ba commune, Kois Kralor distrtict, after they had been running away from being cuptured for a long time in relation to a land conflict in the area.

The victim’s name is Nhy Mak, 40. He was detained at 5:30pm on August 9, by a group of district police at his own home in Doun Ba commune after he participated in a protest on August 8, with other villagers in front of Hun Sen’s house in Phnom Penh. Moreover, he was also one of four people, who were tried in absentia to five years in jail for the accusation of being involved in robbery and destruction of public belongings in August 2008. On the day of his arrest, around 10 policemen and military police forces were set up to move around the area to prohibit villagers from accessing to help the man.

This issue was also related to the land conflict between 415 families and Long Sinarith, military police Lieutenant Colonel and Soam Bunthoeun, RCAF Captain over 1,672 hectares of land. The residents accused the man of grabbing this plot of land to grow rubber trees in September 2008.