Police Suppressed Kampong Cham Villagers’ Protest over Land

On June 14, 2010 about 100 people from Sre Saom Chas village, Kampoan commune, Memot district, Kampong Cham province came to protest in front of Botum Vortey Pagada in Phnom Penh to seek Prime Minister Hun Sen’s intervention on their land being grabbed by RCAF soldiers in Memot district. Those villagers were representatives of 136 families, who were victims of the case.

Instead of being supported, the residents were banned and removed by Daun Penh police out of the area where they demonstrated for two days, 13-14 June 2010.

Related to the complaint in Phnom Penh, the representatives revealed that they have settled in the above location since 1979. Most of them depended on agricultural activities on their farmland for a living. However, in 2003 Y Srien, alias Khmol Pao, also Memot district military police chief came to the place to claim that around 250 hectares of villagers’ land belonged to him. After that he started to threaten and ban them from growing seeds on their land. Based on the time they had been living there for a long time; the villagers did not listen to the military police at all.

Surprisingly, on November 10, 2006 a stranger, named Hem Khorn, lodged a complaint against the families, accusing them of grabbing his land. He asserted that he had legal land title, which had been recognized since 1997. And then, on August 7, 2007 Kampong Cham Provincial Court of First Instance issued a default judgment to order 136 families to dismantle their homes, chop down their plantation by themselves and move out of the area. In addition, 6 villager representatives were ordered to pay 6 million riels in compensation. On May 10, 2010 a group of 10 military police came with short and long guns to arrest 2 villagers; and sent to detain in Kampong Cham police custody. They also intimidated to capture more people if they did not agree to leave and thumbprint to accept that plot of land belonged to Hem Khorn.

Out of the above representatives, Mr. Chres Yok, 53 and Nang Phuon were arrested on May 12, 2010 when they were summoned for questioning in connection with a complaint they had filed against the RCAF soldiers.

Mr. Chres Yok, who has been freed, said that they [the soldiers] had used power to seize the people’s land and threaten to catch them. He added that 5 other villagers, who were also sued by Hem Khorm, have been running away from being confined.