Six People Summoned over their Land

Five local villagers, who were asserted to be the victims of land grabbing from So Nguon Company, are facing legal action through the provincial court, accusing them of inciting people from other villages to protest against the company.

Mrs. Sim Sophea, Adhoc provincial coordinator in the province said the victims, who were accused of the matter, included Mr. Khun Team, 61, Mr. Pen Phal, 31, Nob Chun, 49, Ngep Ngor, 47 with three children and Mr. Yim Mao, 46. They all lived in the aforementioned area. On November 13, they were summoned to present at the provincial court in order to clarify the accusation, which was filed by Mr. So Nguon, the president of the company. Mrs. Sim Sophea said that these villagers were intervened by Licadho with a lawyer, Mr. Ly Sochetra to defend them of the case.

So Nguon Company got an economic land concession from the Cambodian government about 9,800 hectares to develop the area in Trapeang Pleang and Taken commune for 70 years. The company planned to grow eucalyptus trees. However, the villagers had accused the company of grabbing their land and destroying their crops too sine the company started the project. There are two communes that are affected by the development, but Trapeang Pleang is the first one that gets more serious damages.

Mrs. Sim Sophea added that most of the villagers were former Khmer Rouge soldiers. They had lived in the area even before the integration with the government in 1997. Whenever the company impacted on 500-600 families, conflict over land ownership claim took place.

By contrast, local villagers had filed a complaint against the company for years, but it did not work. When the company sued the villagers, it was really rush for the court to take legal action.

Mr. Am Samith, another villager who was also affected from the development project, told the Cambodia Daily News on November 13, 2009 that representatives of 280 families had filed various complaints against Mr. So Nguon in recently years, most recently on November 6, alleging before commune officials that Mr. Nguon encroached on their land. He said the lawsuit will not stop the villagers from pursuing what is rightfully theirs. He also alleged that the firm’s guards destroyed some of the villagers’ mango, banana and rice crops in May.

However, Mr. So Nguon denied that his workers had removed the villagers’ plantation. He also welcomed working through the judicial system, not violent confrontation.

Due to economic land concession provided by the government, the company should have researched the effect of the project on local livelihood of the villagers. This act really abused the law in Cambodia. Based on the 2001 Land Law, those local villagers had lived there even before the integration of Khmer Rouge troops with Cambodian government. Then they could legally claim their rights on that plot of land.

Anyway an appropriate and just compensation must be paid to those residents, if the company wanted to implement its project. According to the investigation, the local authorities and the company failed to do so.