Stop State Terrorism in Cambodia

Today the Cambodian authorities took two hostages among innocent people in Svay Rieng province. Two villagers in Samraong commune, Ms. Meas Srey, 39, and Mr. Prum Chea, 41, were arrested in connection with the 25 October incident in Koh Kban Kandal village where I uprooted six wooden poles that were supposed to be border posts separating Cambodia from Vietnam.

Meas Srey and Prum Chea are two Cambodian farmers who have recently lost their land because of border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities with the complicity of their much weaker Cambodian counterparts. You can see and hear them in this video clip http://tinyurl.com/yfmakb5. Standing next to me, they were the only two persons to loudly air their grievances in a direct phone interview with Washington-based Radio Free Asia. The six wooden poles that were pulled out were planted on Meas Srey’s rice field.

In the video clip, Meas Srey said the Vietnamese authorities were in the process of seizing her one-hectare rice field which her family had been cultivating since 1979.

Prum Chea said he had already lost his nearby two-hectare rice field to the Vietnamese. He added he was very disappointed with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) who had promised, before the last local elections, to defend villagers’ land and Cambodia’s territory.

Meas Srey and Prum Chea are actually thorns in the eyes of CPP leaders. In their 16 November letter to His Majesty King Father Norodom Sihanouk, CPP leaders Chea Sim, Hun Sen and Heng Samrin wrote, "Up to now, not a single Cambodian farmer [living near the border with Vietnam] has lost their rice field [because of alleged border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities]." http://tinyurl.com/ylexj9s

As previously stated, I take full responsibility for uprooting the six wooden poles in Svay Rieng province. From a legal and judicial point of view I am the only person to be prosecuted.

At best, Meas Srey and Prum Chea are scapegoats because the CPP authorities cannot reach me while I am abroad but they need and want to frighten villagers into stopping popular protests against land grabbing associated with border encroachments. These protests are embarrassing for both the Cambodian and the Vietnamese governments.

At worst, the CPP authorities are trying to eliminate witnesses and victims altogether in order to forcibly put an end to the otherwise worsening land issue that could get out of control.

As I pointed out in my 21 December statement “The real court is in Hanoi” http://tinyurl.com/y99gv8w the CPP authorities are organizing a show trial in Cambodia which is a perfect illustration of a travesty of justice. In order to force the population into doing something it wants them to do for its shady interest, the CPP started today to take two innocent persons hostage, thus using terrorist methods.

Democrats all over the world must help resist dictatorship and stop state terrorism in Cambodia.

Sam Rainsy

Member of Parliament