General

Boeung Kak women jailed after three-hour trial

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:02:20 +0100

Women from the Boeung Kak community, who were each sentenced yesterday to as long as two and a half years in prison, scream to friends and relatives from inside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Photograph: Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post

Thirteen women protesters from Boeung Kak lake were yesterday sentenced to two and a half years in prison after a three-hour trial that was widely condemned as illegal – and which prompted SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua to urge the international community to suspend aid to Cambodia.

The women, who were arrested as a family tried to rebuild its home during a demonstration at Boeung Kak on Tuesday, stood trial at 2pm – without a lawyer – after court prosecutors spent the morning interviewing them.

The women spent two nights at Phnom Penh municipal police headquarters and had not been charged until yesterday, when the court tried them for cursing public authority and encroaching upon the land of a public figure – Cambodian People’s Party Senator Lao Meng Khin, the head of Shukaku.

Little more than three hours after their trial began, the women were being transported to overcrowded Prey Sar prison.

Phou Povsun, a Phnom Penh municipal court judge, confirmed the 13 women had been sentenced, but said some of those sentences had been partly suspended.

“Six women were convicted to two years and six months each in jail. Another six will spend two years each in jail,” he said. “The oldest woman will spend one year in jail,” he said, referring to 72-year-old Nget Khun.

Am Sam Ath, senior technical officer at Licadho, said well-known village representative Tep Vanny was among those who had received the full sentence, along with Heng Mom, Chheng Leap, Bouv Saleap, Kong Chantha, Phann Chhunreth and Tol Srey Pao.

“Convicting these people does not end this land dispute,” he said.

Ham Sunrith, the women’s lawyer, said he walked out of the courtroom in the morning after judges refused his proposal to have the case heard later with witnesses – two of whom were arrested outside the court as a crowd of more than 60 protested.

“We will lodge an appeal if [the women] agree,” he said.

SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua said the trial was proof Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government was terrorising its people.

“I am so shocked. This must be condemned. This is total manipulation of the court,” she said.

Mu Sochua called on the international community to suspend aid that went directly to Cambodia’s government, singling out the US – as Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the US State Department, arrived in Cambodia yesterday.

“I’m calling on the internat-ional community to suspend aid,” she said, adding that financial contributions from overseas should henceforth enter Cambodia through NGOs.

“I call on women’s networks across the world to take action. I call on [US Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton to take action.

“If aid continues to flow into the hands of the leaders who totally violate human rights, especially women’s rights, the government will remain totally unaccountable to its people – it will have no legitimacy.”
Sok Sam Oeun, former director of the Cambodian Defenders’ Project, said the trial had not followed national law.

“In pre-trial detention, according to the law, we have . . . a summary trial, which means the prosecutor can send the people to trial without pressing any investigation charge, but the law says that if they are arrested, the trial must be within the same day they are arrested,” he said.

Cambodian Centre for Human Rights president Ou Virak said such a violation left the Kingdom’s justice system at the crossroads.

“It appears the trial was a show. It was predetermined. City hall was being the judge. The judiciary was not independent,” he said.

Ou Virak said the court system’s inability to bring anyone to justice over the shooting of three women at the Kaoway Sports factory in Bavet – which deposed Bavet governor Chhouk Bandith is accused of – proved yesterday’s trial could not have been fair.

“If the court cannot even detain him in so many months, how can they sentence 13 people in one day?”

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said yesterday’s trial was the death knell for justice in Cambodia. “This case is an all-new low that says succinctly, ‘Cambodian justice: RIP’.

“The tycoons and government cronies behind the Boeung Kak project, and their supporters at the highest levels of government, should be ashamed that their greed has suddenly torn mothers and grandmothers away from their children.”

The actions of the court and the government were outrag-eous and unjust, he said.

“Charging and convicting women for exercising their rights to express their views and peacefully assemble, then denying them time to prepare their case, and refusing to allow defence witnesses – these are the actions of a kangaroo court jumping to the tune sung by its political masters in the CPP and the government.”

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, however, said the trial had nothing to do with the government.

“We have no comment,” he said, referring the Post to the Ministry of Justice, which, along with the Phnom Penh municipal authority, could not be reached for comment.

Activist monk detained at Wat Botum

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:02:10 +0100

The Venerable Loun Savath (centre), a prominent rights activist, was detained by police, monks and unidentified plain-clothed men yesterday in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

Senor members of the monastic community yesterday detained Buddhist monk Loun Savath, an award-winning human rights activist, after he took photos of protesting Boeung Kak lake villagers outside Phnom Penh municipal court.

Monks, police and unidentified men in plain clothes violently forced Loun Savath into a Land Cruiser outside the courthouse and whisked him away from the scene as more than 60 protesters, flanked by about 100 police armed with guns, batons and shields, called for the release of 13 Boeung Kak women who were being questioned inside.

Venerable Loun Savath was driven to Wat Botum to meet Supreme Patriarch Nun Nget.

Police and officials from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Cults and Religion barricaded him inside, sealing off entries to the complex, barring entrance to all journalists and preventing even pagoda boys from entering without showing their ID cards.

He remained detained there as of press time last night.

According to students living in the pagoda, Loun Savath was put in monk house number 17 in the complex, which s where a number of Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks live.

At 1pm, Loun Savath was bought to a meeting with Supreme Patriarch Nun Nget and about 20 other senior chief monks including Khim Sorn, the Phnom Penh municipal director of monks.
Nun Nget, however, retired from this meeting about 2pm to nap in his room.

A Post reporter who gained entry to the complex approached the Supreme Patriarch, but he refused to answer questions.

About 7:30 pm, the meeting with the senior monks ended and Loun Savath made a brief appearance near the entrance.

“I am not defrocked,” he told reporters. “But they have asked me to stay at a pagoda in my homeland in Siem Reap.”

The “multimedia monk”, originally from Chi Kraeng district in Siem Reap, began his activist career supporting villagers in a long-running land dispute there.

Loun Savath declined to elaborate on details of the meeting. When asked what prompted the meeting, and what conditions had been placed on him, he replied that the situation was “serious”.

Loun Savath fled the capital in March last year, fearing he would be arrested for his activism. He returned two months later to attend a Prey Lang vill-ager rally. There, he was also forced to flee the scene with the assistance of rights groups when it appeared local authorities were planning his arrest.

He recently attended the funeral of slain environmental activist Chut Wutty.

After briefly talking with reporters last night, Loun Savath returned to the pagoda for a one-on-one meeting with the Supreme Patriarch.

Chief monks who attended the meeting could not be reached for comment.

Phan Davy, director of Phnom Penh’s Cults and Religion office, declined to comment because he was “too busy”. Officials from the Ministry of Cults and Religion could not be reached.

Am Sam Ath, senior technical officer at Licadho, said Loun Savath had the right to defend weaker people.

“Even though he is a monk, he still has the right to defend human rights, but in contrast he is arrested,” he said.

Human Rights Watch’s Phil Robertson condemned the treatment of Loun Savath. “Defrocking a monk for standing up for the poor would be a sign of Hun Sen’s desperation,” he said.

Funcinpec, NRP set to merge

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:02:00 +0100

Prince Norodom Ranariddh (left), head of the Norodom Ranariddh Party, shares a toast with Funcinpec party President Nhek Bun Chhay (right) after signing an agreement to merge the two parties yesterday. Photograph: Stringer/Phnom Penh Post

The on-again, off-again dance between Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party finally concluded yesterday, with the two opposition royalist parties agreeing to merge following the June 3 commune elections.

Prime Minister Hun Sen of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party met with the leaders of the parties yesterday morning to encourage them to agree to the merger, officials said.

Shortly after the meeting, Funcinpec secretary-general Nhek Bun Chhay and Prince Norodom Ranariddh signed an agreement to join forces under the auspices of the Funcinpec party to run in the national elections in July next year.

The agreement was signed at the cabinet of the premier in the Peace Palace, and the parties said it marked the end to a six-year rift between the royalist groups sparked when Prince Norodom Ranariddh was ousted as president of Funcinpec.

In late 2010, the parties began discussing the possibility of a merger, but it failed to materialise amid disagreements on a number of issues, including the name.

Norodom Ranariddh will assume presidency of the united Funcinpec party, and current Funcinpec president Bun Chhay will be appointed vice president.

“The merger is to mobilise royalists, Sihanoukists and to be a real national force to work with the national force [of the ruling CPP and Prime Minister Hun Sen] in order to serve the nation,” Norodom Ranariddh told reporters after the signing.

“Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen has strongly expressed his concern over the split of the monarchy political parties, and this shows that the premier is also the monarchy,” the prince said.

“I have expressed my gratefulness and loyalty to the premier, and from the moment of this merging today, we will stop discussing who was wrong and who was right – our destination is for reconciliation,” he said.

Factional infighting over power and money within and between the two royalist groups has plagued the parties. Norodom Ranariddh’s 2006 ouster was accompanied by allegations that he embezzled funds from the sale of the party’s headquarters.

The two parties won two seats each of the total 123 seats in the National Assembly in the national election in 2008.

Asian Human Rights Commission senior researcher Lao Mong Hay said it was unusual that the parties met with the premier before their merger.

“It will be very difficult for the parties here to show credibility vis-à-vis the electorate. Both have had experience working with the CPP, and we have seen that association with the CPP has not been doing any good to them,” Lao Mong Hay said.

Infighting over the past few years has also caused serious damage to the parties, Lao Mong Hay said.

“It might be a bit difficult to mend that lack of reputation or bad reputation,” he said, pointing out that both sides had been marginalised by defeats.

Still, the new Funcinpec’s allegiance to Prime Minister Hun Sen shouldn’t come as a shock, Lao Mong Hay said.

“It’s not surprising at all. Perhaps both sides [NRP and Funcinpec] have departed from each other before for many years, and now that they have realised there is no future in that, they must be allied,” he said.

Suspected suicide: HRP reserve candidate found dead

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:50 +0100

Suspected suicide
A reserve candidate for the Human Rights Party apparently hanged himself on Wednesday night in Chirou II commune in Kampong Cham province’s Tbong Khmum district, police said yesterday.

Kong Sihong, Chirou II commune police chief, said the body of Pov Kirivong, 56, was found hanging from a mango tree near his house by villagers yesterday morning, who then notified the police.

Pov Kirivong had likely killed himself due to depression over a long-term illness, he said.

“Based on the answers of the victim’s family and the examination, the reason for his hanging is due to long-lasting haemorrhoid disease.”

Seng Seangly, HRP director of operations in Kampong Cham province, said he was unsure whether the suicide of Pov Kirivong was a political or personal affair. The deceased had argued with a military police officer while campaigning with his party members two days prior, he said.

“I will ask the human rights groups to investigate this case,” added Seng Seangly.

Strikers back at table

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:40 +0100

Workers from SL Garment Processing (Cambodia)’s SL1 and SL2 factories protest yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district. Photograph: Vireak Mai/Phnom Penh Post

Workers from SL Garment factories and union representatives held their second round of talks at the Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday as strikes at the Levi’s, Gap and H&M suppliers continued for the 12 day straight.

The first round of negotiations had broken down on Tuesday, and an Arbitration Council ruling that ordered protesters back to work failed to end the strikes.

Ek Sopheakdey, legal officer for the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), said workers lowered their demands from $10 to $8.50 for transport and living allowances, but held firm on their attendance bonus. Legal complaints against union officials had to be withdrawn.

As workers awaited the outcome of their demands, expected today, Ek Sopheakdey warned that the management’s continued refusal would have wider implications.

“If the employers do not agree with us, they show that they want to make trouble within the garment industry,” he said.

Ea Chip Ieng, personnel manager at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia), said C.CAWDU was worsening workers’ conditions rather than helping them.

“If there is a union leader like Ath Thorn [president of C.CAWDU], Cambodian workers will have no work. My factory will consider moving to other countries like Myanmar,” he said.

Family plot: uncle on run after niece’s death

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:30 +0100

A murder suspect is on the run after allegedly shooting his niece several times yesterday with an assault rifle, after what authorities are calling a dispute regarding a land deal between the two in Kampong Cham’s Stung Trang district.

District police chief Chea Thearith said the 38-year-old victim, Noy Limseng, along with a family friend, had visited her uncle’s home in Dang Kdar commune to collect the final payment for a plot of land he was purchasing from her.

After he paid her the money, tensions flared and the victim tried to escape the scene, but her uncle, In Chan, allegedly shot her in the head, chest and arm, killing her, before taking back the US$3,000 he had paid to the victim.

He then fled the scene.
“She was murdered by her uncle. She was shot dead while she was trying to run from the road into the forest,” the police chief said, adding that her 21-year-old family friend, who was on her motorbike, managed to flee from the scene uninjured.

After the shooting, police arrested In Chan’s older brother at the scene and said he would be detained for questioning.

“Police are working hard to arrest the killer,” the police chief said.

Sok Kim, a Stung Trang district police officer, told the Post yesterday that the victim shot his niece as a result of land deal between the two that angered him.

He said In Chan sold nine hectares of land in the Chrey Hay village to his niece Noy Limseng in 2010 for the price of US$600 per hectare.

Then earlier this month, In Chan asked to buy the land back from her.

She agreed, but at a price of US$1,400 per hectare.

He added that In Chan accepted this price and paid her the last US$3,000 he owed her for the land yesterday before he murdered her, took the money back and fled the scene.

“The victim was murdered after she received the final payment for the land from the killer [In Chan],” the police officer said.

The family of the victim could not be reached for comment yesterday.

War relic returned: Phnom Penh buys piece of air history

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:20 +0100

An aricraft relic found earlier this month in the Mekong river has been purchased by the Phnom Penh municipality, officials said yesterday.

Sun Kannareth, chief of Russey Keo commune police, said the aircraft wing, bearing a 1960s-era Cambodian Air Force logo, has been transported to the municipal city hall.

The move was ordered by Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema.

“These parts of aircraft are heritage found at the bottom of the river … which must be preserved and protected by the government’s conservation or UNESCO,” added Sun Kannareth.

Scrap metal yard owner Min Oma, 49, who bought the artefact from a fisherman for $400, said the municipality had reimbursed him to the tune of $500. He told the Post on Tuesday that he had hoped to sell it for $1,000.

According to a senior official at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, the aircraft bears the inscription “Made in USA”, with the Cambodian flag, and likely crashed during the civil war in the early 1970s.

Battambang battle pits youth vs experience

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:10 +0100

Sam Rainsy Party candidate Sin Chan Pov Rozeth, 25, campaigns for commune chief in O’Char commune in Battambang town yesterday. At 25, she is the youngest candidate running in next month’s elections. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

At 25, Sin Chan Pov Rozeth is the youngest candidate running for commune chief in the June 3 election and faces a ruling party opponent more than half a century her senior.

The young Sam Rainsy Party hopeful is pitted against the Cambodian People’s Party Kem Chhorng, 78, who has been the chief of O’Char commune in Battambang town since just after the Khmer Rouge were overthrown in 1979.

Sin Chan Pov Rozeth’s former job was selling quails here, where she grew up with only her mother, who sells vegetables for a living and lives in the SRP headquarters.

But for the past week, she has been aggressively selling something more abstract: a campaign message to end alleged corruption in the commune, build a healthcare centre and construct a sewer system to stop continual flooding.

“Even though my competitor is old and has experience, I still hope that I will beat him, because in the 20 years that he has been a commune chief, he has not served people well but thinks about money; there has been no development for people,” she said.

The first-time candidate, who has actively supported the SRP since she was 11 years old, said it was the will to develop, not experience and gender, that is important.

“In Thailand, they voted for a woman to lead the country. Why in our O’Char commune can people not vote for a woman to lead?” she said.

Kem Chhorng says her promises are full of hot air and wants to know where the money is going to come from to build the pledged projects when the national budget offers the commune scant funding.

“What she says is just to attract, for her pride. She looks pretty but she is young, she does not have experience and she cannot do. She has never been a commune chief,” he said.

“Since 1979, I have never lost any time an election for commune chief so far. If I threaten people for money, they would not vote for me,” he said, adding that in that time he had built four schools in four separate villages.

He added that he was old and would agree to leave politics if he lost, but said he was 100 per cent confident he would win the seat, and that the CPP would gain two more councillors in O’Char commune.

Currently, they have seven councillors in O’Char compared to the SRP’s four.

Out on the campaign trail, Sin Chan Pov Rozeth is winning supporters, at least at face value, including 90-year-old Om Heb, who assures her he will be voting SRP on June 3.

“Women work well. I would try with her once. The men are [too] busy looking at the road,” he said, after hearing her confident campaign pitch, which sometimes includes a portable, stand-mounted flat-screen TV blaring out SRP campaign videos.

The CPP are taking a less personalised approach to campaigning in Battambang, driving through town in huge convoys of hundreds of flag-waving supporters on motorbikes and dozens of cars blurting out their campaign slogans from loudspeakers.

Sin Chan Pov Rozeth faces an uphill battle against this show of force, and once again this campaign, there have been widespread allegations of political intimidation.

Just yesterday, the SRP announced they would file a criminal complaint over an alleged assault on their Battambang district councillor, Khy Meng Lynh, by a CPP member – an attack they say resulted in a dislocated collarbone.

Another problem, said political observer Son Soubert, was the division between the SRP and smaller opposition parties such as the Human Rights Party and the Norodom Ranariddh Party, which yesterday announced plans to merge with Funcinpec.

“Well, I just wish that they get better, but I doubt it, because when the opposition is not united, the people will be divided, and some will go to the Sam Rainsy and some to the HRP.

In the battle for the O’Char seat, the SRP is also contesting the soon-to-be-merged NRP and Funcinpec.

More important than the influence of an emerging, politically aware younger generation, is the reaction to the continuing escalation of land disputes at the ballot box, Son Soubert said.

And there is another factor that might work against Sin Chan Pov Rozeth’s campaign – the mass migration of young people in the area seeking jobs in Thailand, which has escalated amidst the Thai government’s pledge to raise the minimum daily wage to 300 baht (US$9.50).

Most people in Battambang town are understandably reluctant to say who they will support in the election, but they unanimously agree there has been at least one positive democratic sign – far more vigorous campaigning from all parties.

These commune elections mean nothing in terms of real parliamentary muscle, but as a key battleground at next year’s National Assembly elections, they will provide an indication of whether Cambodians are willing to consider change.

With SRP MP Mu Sochua set to face off directly with CPP Interior Minister Sar Kheng in Battambang in the 2013 ballot, the result will provide insight in what is set to be a fierce battle on the biggest political stage.

Opposition reps share views

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:00 +0100

Non-government organisations hosted a freewheeling forum yesterday in which opposition political parties held forth on a handful of topics critical to voters ahead of the June 3 commune elections.

The CPP did not deign to take part, but a member of one of the monitoring groups said this was fairly common.

Nevertheless, about 200 political activists, represent-atives of evictees and community leaders flocked to the event, at Phnom Penh’s Imper-ial Garden Village and Hotel.

Each party representative, none of whom are running for office, laid out positions on themes like land rights and natural resources management.

Koul Panha, of election monitor Comfrel, an NGO that took part, said the question-and-answer period was spirited.

“People feel a little bit frust-rated,” he said.

While parties differed here and there, all of them criticised the CPP for provoking recent violent land evictions.

“Land belongs to the villagers, and villagers have been imprisoned for protesting against the government to protect their land,” Thach Sitha, a Sam Rainsy Party representative, said.

Human Rights Party repre-sentative Ou Chanrith explained that the HRP wanted to cancel all the 99-year contracts for economic land concessions that affect residents and the environment, and issue land certificates to resid-ents to protect the safety of villagers’property.

Som Mony, 60, from Siem Reap province, said he would vote for any party that was against evictions.

Senior CPP legislator Cheam Yeap said such critiques were normal during campaigns, and “the voters will decide which political party is on the right track.”

Mondulkiri village’s residents say they’d rather die than run

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:01:00 +0100

Mondulkiri province
A combined force of police, soldiers and military police last night set a deadline of 8am this morning for villagers in Mondulkiri province’s tiny Rayum commune to leave their homes or face forcible eviction.

Authorities, who have surrounded the village for a week, say the villagers’ homes sit on land belonging to a Vietnamese rubber company, and that any homes still standing this morning will be demolished. Joint forces burned more than 50 homes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and today’s ultimatum has many villagers fearing for their safety, residents say.

Tha, 27, who declined to give his family name for fear of retribution, said that eviction forces tore down a number of homes yesterday, as authorities searched for three wanted village representatives that they accuse of instigating confrontation.

“They threatened us, saying that tomorrow at 8am there will be no houses in our village, and that they will arrest our villagers who ... stand against them,” he said. “Tomorrow we will decide to die in our homes. We will not move; dying on our land is better than running away.”

According to Tha, all of the villagers were unarmed, unlike the eviction forces. “Tomorrow, if they still want to continue to do this, I think a lot of villagers will die at home,” he said.

Authorities say that villagers moved onto the land only after it was granted to three similarly named Vietnamese rubber companies. However, official documents show that the 28,000 hectares were illegally given to one company called Pacific Pearl Joint-Stock Company in 2011.

Resident Var Vy, 29, said that the Rayum commune area is home to some communities that have been there for a long time, contrary to authorities’ claims.

“We have decided to die already,” he said, echoing the feelings of other residents. “We are not afraid, because we have no home besides this.”

Seng Channy, one of the three village representatives fleeing arrest, said that she would like to ask the government to allow villagers to stay.

“If authorities said that we are a new company, why couldn’t they grant that land as a social land concession for us?” she asked. “Why do they take our land to give it to the company?”

Khlout Sophea, deputy district police chief in Koh Nhek said that authorities only tore down the houses of consenting villagers, and that demolition will continue today. “What I did was just to comply with the high-level officer’s orders, because I am low-level,” he said.

Svay Sam Eang, deputy provincial governor in Mondulkiri, declined to comment, saying: “I am busy in a meeting.”

Yi Soksan, an investigator for human rights group Adhoc, said that authorities should find peaceful means to negotiate.

“If those villagers are newcomers and really have no land, the government should grant it as a social land concession,” he said. “Why does the government just care about the company, and not about their villagers?”

Honda factory protest rolls into second day

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:00:50 +0100

More than 90 per cent of employees at the Honda NCX factory in the capital’s Choam Chao commune protested for the second day yesterday, saying they would block the gates of the company today if there is no resolution to their grievances.

Kun Ry, vice president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, said that nearly 500 staffers protested on the grounds that employees are being sacked for attempting to unionise.

They are also seeking improved working conditions and bonuses for senior workers, as well as asking that administrative manager Eath Seng Ny be fired for his role in the sackings.

Eath Seng Ny said yesterday that he was unaware any plan to block the entrances. “We cannot find a resolution because they really need what they want,” he said, adding that the company was seeking a legal resolution.

Police nab suspected meth dealer in capital

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:00:40 +0100

One of three suspected drug dealers was arrested in a sting operation Wednesday night in Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town, police said yesterday.

Thin Sindeth, chief of the provincial anti-drug police office, said Touch Chanthol, 45, had been arrested following a months-long investigation.

“He [Touch Chanthol] was arrested while he was selling drugs to our agents who pretended to be drug buyers,” he said, adding that officers were on the lookout for two accomplices who escaped. Touch Chanthol will be sent to court today.

Activist monk Loun Savath detained

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:32:03 +0100

Luon Savath speaks to reporters during a demonstration at Boeung Kak lake earlier this week. Photograph: Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post

Senior members of the monastic community this morning were involved in detaining Buddhist monk Loun Savath, an award-winning human rights activist, after he took photos of protesting Boeung Kak lake villagers outside Phnom Penh municipal court.

Monks, police and unidentified plain-clothed men forced him into a Land Cruiser and ushered him away from the scene as more than 60 protesters, flanked by about 100 police, called for the release of 13 Boeung Kak women who where being questioned inside.

The monks would not comment on why they had detained Venerable Loun Savath, who was banned from all pagodas in Phnom Penh last year by Supreme Patriarch Nun Nget.

Venerable Loun Savath was driven to Wat Botum, where police and officials from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Cults and Religion barricaded him inside, sealing off entries so even pagoda boys could not enter.

A Ministry of Cults and Religion official said it was unclear whether the supreme patriarch has grounds to defrock the monk.

“[Venerable Loun Savath] is being held here, and after [the supreme patriarch] has finished lunch, he will decide what to do.”

The 13 Boeung Kak women arrested on Tuesday are yet to be charged.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khouth Sophak Chakrya at sophakchakrya.khouth@phnompenhpost.com
With assistance from Bridget Di Certo

Defiance works: Amnesty

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:03:55 +0100

Workers demolish houses on the edge of Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh in 2010. More than 4,000 families have been affected by the Shukaku Inc development. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

In the face of increasing economic land concessions and ongoing restrictions on expression, disaffected Cambodians were increasingly taking to the streets with success, Amnesty International representatives said yesterday at the launch of their annual report.

Amnesty reported that Cambodians continued to face challenges to their human rights through restriction of freedom of association and expression and land disputes that had been exacerbated by “an increase in the number of economic land concessions granted to business interests by the government”.

Amnesty also identified several cases of human-rights defenders who had been physically attacked, arrested, detained or convicted by the Kingdom’s authorities for their peaceful activities.

Although the report highlighted the persecution, intimidation and harassment human rights protesters often face, in-country researcher Rupert Abbott said protests in Cambodia could bring about change.

“Indeed, protests in Cambodia are on the rise, and this is undoubtedly partly because protesters know protests can bring results that other courses of action – such as relying on the corrupt justice system to resolve disputes – cannot,” Abbott said by email.

He cited examples of peaceful protests that have influenced change, such as the Boeung Kak lake protests that helped push the government to give back 12 hectares, and civil-society pressure against the proposed Law on Associations and NGOs.

“There are also numerous examples of garment workers protesting peacefully and gaining concessions from factory owners as a result,” Abbott said.

The 2012 report, themed “No longer business as usual for tyranny and injustice”, estimates 420,000 people in areas covering approximately half the country have been affected by forced evictions since 2003.

Freedom of expression, association and assembly have also been jeopardised by authorities who have disrupted peaceful, legal gatherings and places, it says.

Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha said he had no comment on the report.

“I cannot tell you the answer without seeking approval from my boss,” Ek Tha said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com

Police destroy 50 homes in Mondulkiri

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:03:50 +0100

With a looming deadline to move still two days away, police yesterday stormed tiny Rayum commune in Mondulkiri province, dismantling and burning at least 50 homes belonging to villagers embroiled in a land dispute with a Vietnamese rubber company.

Seng Channy, a villager representative who escaped arrest, said that a group of more than 15 armed provincial police used a chainsaw to tear down their houses, then burned them, telling villagers not to protest.

“They threatened that if we dared to confront them, they would instantly arrest us,” he said. “If today you didn’t agree to thumbprint [a document consenting to leave], they will dismantle and incinerate your house without taking responsibility for the damage.”

Yesterday’s conflagration comes only a few days after authorities burned down four of the villagers’ homes.

“All the villagers dared not to protest against them, but only stood looking as their houses got burned and ruined, because all the soldiers and police were armed,” said Seng Channy.

Buth Preang, 47, said that villagers are living in fear, and that the number of police is now greater than the number of villagers.

“We refused to give a thumbprint to them, and we will stay at our house to see what they will actually do to us,” he said.

Now, says Buth Preang, authorities are dismantling houses gradually, telling villagers to completely tear down their houses, or risk authorities returning to tear them down tomorrow.

“They accused us of occupying the company’s land, so why doesn’t the company chase us?” he asked. “Or does the company employ the authorities to abuse us?”

Authorities claim that villagers live on 28,000 hectares granted to three similarly named Vietnamese rubber companies: Pacific Grand Joint-Stock Company Limited, Pacific Lotus Joint-Stock Company Limited and Pacific Pearl Joint-Stock Company Limited.

Official documents, however, show that all the land was granted to the Pacific Pearl Joint-Stock Company in a concession that is technically illegal, due to its size.

Man Saran, the district police chief in Koh Nhek, said that “of course” authorities started dismantling houses today, but that he had not been briefed on the number of houses because he was busy in a meeting at Mondulkiri provincial hall.

Khlout Sophea, deputy district police chief in Koh Nhek and director of the eviction, said that authorities didn’t forcibly burn any houses, and that they decided to dismantle the homes with the villagers’ consent.

“We didn’t force them, because we will follow the provincial initiative tomorrow,” he said.

He added that authorities wouldn’t respond with violence to villagers, and would only prevent them from interfering, despite what he characterised as their disdain for his authority.

“What we have done is based on the law,” he said.

Svay Sam Eang, deputy provincial governor of Mondulkiri, declined to comment yesterday, but told the Post on Tuesday that authorities are not required to give villagers compensation, but “if any villagers volunteer to leave by themselves, we will offer them a little”.

Chan Soveth, a senior investigator with human rights group Adhoc, said he is very concerned for the villager’s safety, due to both the remoteness of the area and last week’s shooting in Kratie, in which a 14-year-old girl was killed.

“We appeal to the authorities to find a peaceful solution, and give them appropriate compensation in compliance with the administration and appropriation law,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: May Titthara at titthara.may@phnompenhpost.com

The ‘ill-willed’ spark cyber law: officials

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:03:40 +0100

A woman types a text message on a mobile phone at an office in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia is drafting its first cyber law, a move designed to prevent “ill-willed groups or individuals” from spreading false information, government officials said yesterday.

Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha said the law is not intended to restrict media, but to ensure that the “common interest is protected”.

“The government right now is drafting the first-ever cyber law, given the mushrooming of … modern technology like Twitter and YouTube and email and all sorts of technology activity,” Ek Tha said.

“We need to prevent any ill-willed people or bad mood people from spreading false information, groundless information that could tend to mislead the public and affect national security or our society. We need to control this,” Ek Tha said.

An article posted to the PQRU website yesterday reported that the cyber law had been discussed during a meeting on Tuesday between Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and EU Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain.

The posting referred to an example used by Sok An to illustrate the need for a cyber law.

“For instance, there was a mobile phone message saying that there was a violent clash near the Cambodia-Japan Friendship Bridge between supporters of the [Cambodian People’s Party] and the [Sam Rainsy Party] yesterday evening, but it was totally false,” the deputy prime minister was quoted as saying.

“[P]eople use modern technology to spread false information, so we need a law to regulate them.”

In February, 2011, the Post reported on the minutes of a meeting at which the minister for post and telecommunications requested that internet service providers including Metfone and Ezecom block the blog KI-Media, an opposition website that posts content often highly critical of government officials.

Cambodian Center for Human Rights president Ou Virak told the Post yesterday the government had been working on internet censorship laws for some time, but no draft had been produced.

“We are pretty cautious about how it could be used and abused,” Ou Virak said, pointing to Cambodia’s disinformation law as something widely used to silence opposition voices.

“We already see exposure of human-rights abuses going viral, like when the police are beating protesters.

“International 3G was a major contribution for the population. Any laws to restrict it become a major threat.”

Ou Virak said it would be “pretty scary” if Cambodia adopted the Thai model of internet censorship.

Nguon Teang Pa, executive director of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said a cyber law could have a detrimental affect on development.

“There has been lots of money from donors [invested in] Cambodia, and if the government makes such a law, it would mean all the money invested so far is wasted and the government has set back democracy,” he said.

Phu Leewood, secretary-general of the National Information Communication Technology Development of Cambodia, which is spearheading the draft, declined to comment.

Chem Sangva, director-general of the inspection department at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, said Cambodia had exchanged experiences with other countries in the region to learn from them in drafting the law.

“This law would help prevent such crimes as terrorism or from other ill-willed people stealing state secrets,” Chem Sangva said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
Kim Yuthana at yuthana.kim@phnompenhpost.com

Boeung Kak 13 held without charge

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:03:30 +0100

Military police officers watch a group of Boeung Kak lake residents, who gathered outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday to wait for information about 13 villagers who were arrested on Tuesday. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

Thirteen women hauled into police vehicles during a demonstration at Boeung Kak lake on Tuesday were being held without charge at Phnom Penh police headquarters last night.

About 70 Boeung Kak villagers rallied outside Phnom Penh municipal court yesterday in support of the arrested women, who they thought were being held inside.

“I received information that the court has charged them with inciting our 18 families to take the land [at Boeung Kak] illegally,” said Ly Chanary, 39, who was evicted from her house at Boeung Kak in 2010.

“I think it is a very unjust accusation [because] we have not [received] any compensation or a solution.”

Police arrested the group, which included a 67-year-old, on Tuesday after officers tore down a wooden frame the villagers had erected where their houses once stood.

Eighteen families evicted from Boeung Kak in 2010 to make way for a $72 million development by Shukaku, a company owned by CPP senator Meng Khin, had vowed to rebuild on Tuesday, resulting in about 200 police being deployed.

Heng Mom, one of the 13 women who remained in custody last night, told the Post by telephone that she did not know how long she would be behind bars.

“Daun Penh governor Sok Sambath had accused us of encouraging the 18 families to build houses on their land illegally,” she said. “We have already denied this to police.”

Sok Sambath could not be reached for comment.

Phnom Penh Police commissioner Touch Naroth defended the arrests, saying the women shouted obscenities at his officers.

Touch Naroth said, however, that it was not up to police to charge the women – that role lay with the court prosecutor, who could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Am Sam Ath, senior technical officer at human rights group Licadho, said that suggestions the detainees were guilty of incitement was distorting what they had really been doing: looking for a solution to their housing problems.

“I appeal to the authority to release these 13 women,” he said.

In a similar incident, Phnom Penh municipal police detained more than 30 women and children during an eviction protest in January.

The detainees, from Borei Keila, were held without charge for a week at a social affairs centre before they climbed the walls and fled.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khouth Sophak Chakrya at sophakchakrya.khouth@phnompenhpost.com

RCAF aide, wife snared in drug-trafficking bust

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:03:20 +0100

An assistant to RCAF’s Cabinet of General Command and his wife have been arrested by anti-drug police for their alleged involvement in trafficking in the capital, a senior police official said yesterday.

General Khieu Saman, director of the Anti-Drug Department of the Ministry of Interior, said that Major Oung Thavry, 45, and his wife, Chhom Chantheary, 32, were arrested in a Tuesday night raid on their rental house in Dangkor district’s Choam Chao commune.

According to Khieu Saman, the raid was the result of a months-long investigation into Oung Thavry’s activities.

“They were arrested by our police forces while they were distributing drugs to other drug suspects in their house,” he told the Post. “Three other drug suspects successfully escaped from the house during the raid.”

Police recovered a package of heroin, a bag of marijuana, hundreds of ecstasy and methamphetamine pills and other drug-related materials from the suspects’ home.

“We now are working hard in seeking the arrest of the other remaining suspects who escaped from the house during the raid,” said Khieu Saman. “We already know their identities.”

He declined to reveal the names of the other suspects.

Oung Thavry and his wife are now being detained for questioning and further investigation at the Ministry of Interior, authorities say.

They will be sent to court on Tuesday to be officially charged.

Neither the suspects, nor Ministry of National Defence spokespeople, could be reached for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at reaksmeykongkea.buth@phnompenhpost.com

Cambodian migrants seek China exit strategy

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:03:10 +0100

Four Cambodian women working at a garment factory in China have said they want to leave but are trapped there because the employer has taken their passports.

Yin Sophy, 27, said the group were at a factory she called Minan – a company name the Post was unable to independently verify – in southern China, but wanted to leave because two of them had fallen sick.

“I have a stomach ache and my friend Sokunthea, she has a lung disease. We want to go back home but the factory owner did not agree,” she said.

“We decided to stop working right now, but the employer do not agree to give our passports back.”

The girls arrived at the factory in August after paying a Cambodian broker US$300 each, but had received only intermittent work after being promised a regular and high salary, she added.

Yin Sophy identified the other women as Chhuon Sokunthea, 25, Non Sophea, 21, and Yin Sophea, 20.

Joel Preston, a consultant with the Cambodian Legal Education Center, said the women were in Dongguan city, near Guangzhou, in Guongdong province.

“We’re working with UNAIP; we’re going to try and get them back,” he said.

Chiv Phally, deputy director of the anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department, said he was unaware of the case.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sen David at david.sen@phnompenhpost.com
David Boyle at david.boyle@phnompenhpost.com

Clash erupts at SL factory

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:02:50 +0100

Security guards clashed yesterday with workers from two SL Garment factories that supply Levi’s, Gap and H&M, as the number of employees protesting exceeded 5,500 – or more than 90 per cent of the staff.

Protester Kim Voeun, 32, said security guards, in the presence of about 300 police and military police officers, had prevented workers congregating outside the SL1 factory in the capital’s Meanchey district.

“They pushed the female workers [on to the street]. I was hit in the stomach. I coughed up blood, and I still have chest pain,” she said.

Workers and the company have been in dispute over conditions since strikes began on May 12.

Long negotiations involving officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs broke down on Tuesday, and an Arbitration Council ruling that ordered the protesters back to work has failed to end the strikes.

Unmet demands include transport and living allowances, an attendance bonus and for legal complaints against union officials to be withdrawn.

Ek Sopheakdey, legal officer for the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), said about 300 armed police and military police patrolled the strike yesterday.

C.CAWDU president Ath Thorn rejected claims the company made on Tuesday that the strike would cause major brands to be concerned about investing in Cambodia.

“I’ve talked with some of these buyers. They say it’s fine, because workers have rights and they’re not asking too much. They will not leave.”

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) voiced similar concerns about the future of big-brand investment in Cambodia last month.

GMAC urged the government to crack down on the growing number of trade unions that were using “mafia-style” tactics to incite violent and “illegal” strikes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chhay Channyda at channyda.chhay@phnompenhpost.com