AN eviction deadline is set to expire today, leaving 73 families, embroiled in a land dispute with petrol conglomerate Sokimex in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Sruoch district in fear of losing their homes, villagers said yesterday.

Villager Ok Pov said that local authorities had prepared 300 officials to bulldoze their land.

“[The authorities] warned that they would remove our houses and take legal action if we went against their removal,” he said.

The 73 families say they have lived on land in Treng Trayeong commune’s Village 3 since 1992, long before a Sokimex representative filed a complaint against them in 2000 claiming the land belonged to Sokimex.

The provincial court ruled in favour of Sokimex in 2001, but villagers complained they had not been informed until after the case and subsequently brought their cause to the Ministry of Justice and National Assembly.

Villager Lai Im claimed yesterday the families had received intervention letters from King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen and  Senate President Chea Sim on their behalf.

Kampong Speu provincial prosecutor Khut Sopheang said that he had not seen any such letter and the eviction would be carried out today.