Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Attempted eviction results in alleged beating of 3 women

Attempted eviction results in alleged beating of 3 women

Attempted eviction results in alleged beating of 3 women

The latest eviction action in an ongoing land dispute in Oddar Meanchey’s Anglong Veng district has put three women in the hospital and resulted in the miscarriage of one of the women’s 3-month-old fetus, villagers told the Post yesterday.

One of the women, 32-year-old Thy Hor of O Ampil village, said that a group of 12 environment officers working for the Koulen Prumtep wildlife sanctuary and eight soldiers arrived at 3pm on Friday with the intent of burning down their homes, which they said lie on national park land.

Thy Hor, three months’ pregnant at the time, said she and two other women – Roeun Sophoan, 27, and Seng Thear, 30 – were beaten into unconciousness when they attempted to prevent the razing. The three, who have filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc, are being treated for their injuries at the provincial hospital.

“They tried to arrest men in the villages, but they cannot arrest those men, so they beat on us when we try to [remove] our property from our home,” she said.

She added that it is the third time that a group lead by Koulen Prumtep wildlife sanctuary director Kheng Socheat has come to drive out the villagers.

“They beat us with guns, took off our sarongs and shot us with a video camera, so I would like to request to Adhoc to find justice for us. We are humans; we are not animals.”

Villager representative Chhorm Chhoeun said that the threat of being burned out by soldiers has been a constant threat, adding that villagers had purchased the land in 2000 from an environment officer named Ry Heng.

“We are wondering why they accused us living on the national park, because we bought from them,” he said. “If they knew that it was a protected area, why did they sell it to sell to us?”

Chhorm Chhoeun added that villagers had agreed to relocate to Ramchek village in Anlong Veng commune in 2009, but ultimately returned to their old village when they realised they would not receive a promised 2 hectares of farmland each.

Since then, 128 houses have been burned down by provincial authorities in separate incidents on May 25, 2010, (103 houses) and August 30 (25 houses).

Kheng Socheat, director of Koulen Prumtep wildlife sanctuary, admitted that he went down with soldiers to oversee the tearing down of the cottages, but rejected the accusations of violence.

“Don’t believe those people,” he said. “They are not villagers from that area; they are migrant people. A lot of my officers got injured during a problem with them on December 9.”

MOST VIEWED

  • 12th Cambodia int’l film festival to see return of Hollywood star

    Phnom Penh is set to come alive with the magic of cinema as the highly anticipated 12th Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF) takes centre stage. Boasting an impressive line-up of 188 films from 23 countries, including captivating shorts, feature films, documentaries and animation, the festival promises an

  • Brawl marrs football final as Indonesian take gold in seven goal thriller

    The Indonesian men's U22 men national football team were crowned champions of the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, defeating Thailand 5-2 in extra time on May 16 at Olympic National Stadium in Phnom Penh. The match was marred by an ugly incident that occured in the 91

  • Bareknuckle champion wants Kun Khmer fighter

    Dave Leduc, who is the current openweight Lethwei boxing champion in Myanmar, has announced that he will travel to Cambodia this year to challenge SEA Games gold medallist Prum Samnang any time that is convenient, after their planned match later this month in Slovakia was

  • Candlelight Party disqualified from July general election

    The National Election Committee (NEC) has disqualified the Candlelight Party (CP) from contesting the upcoming general election, citing a lack of valid documentation. NEC spokesman Khorn Keomono said the CP failed to fulfil one of the three main requirements: including original documentation proving their registration

  • Thong Khon calls for orderly SEA Games closing ceremony

    Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism and permanent vice-president of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC), calls on all people who have received tickets to the May 17 closing ceremony of the biennial multi-sports extravaganza at the Morodok Techo National Stadium to ensure that the event

  • 1.4 billion dollar Phnom Penh-Bavet expressway due in four years

    The Government, through the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, has officially signed a public-private partnership agreement with a private company for the construction of a Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway project that will connect the capital to Svay Rieng province. The budget for the project is