Published: May 22, 2012
CHHLONG, Cambodia, May 22 (UPI) -- Residents of a northeast Cambodia village detained during a government crackdown in which a 14-year-old was fatally shot accused security forces of brutality.
The residents of Pro Ma in the Chhlong district's Kampong Damrei commune in Kratie said military and local police forced men and women to strip naked, handcuffed them and left females in the sun for hours while males weren't freed until the end of the day, The Phnom Penh Post reported.
The newspaper said nearly 1,000 police and military police officers had
stormed the village of about 1,000 families Wednesday morning in an
operation authorities said was to arrest ringleaders of a group trying
to start an autonomous state.
A 19-year-old woman, who requested her name not be used, said she had
"never seen such brutality" as the police used in the village, where
Heng Chantha, 14, was killed.
"I experienced Pol Pot's regime, but it was not as cruel as this," another woman said. "Now that I've tasted being handcuffed and bound in the hot daylight, if I had land in another place, I would not live in the area."
The residents have long been in a land dispute with the company Casotim, which conducts logging in the area.
Kratie provincial Gov. Sar Chamrong, who took office Friday, said the forces had been authorized only to search for weapons.
"If the forces hit, harassed and forced people to undress, it is not a policy," he said.
The government had said the Democratic Association, led by Bun Ratha, was provoking a separatist movement.
Villagers say Ratha was helping them stand up to Casotim.
Forces also confiscated rice and gasoline and slaughtered poultry, said Touch Sok, a 52-year-old villager.
"I experienced Pol Pot's regime, but it was not as cruel as this," another woman said. "Now that I've tasted being handcuffed and bound in the hot daylight, if I had land in another place, I would not live in the area."
The residents have long been in a land dispute with the company Casotim, which conducts logging in the area.
Kratie provincial Gov. Sar Chamrong, who took office Friday, said the forces had been authorized only to search for weapons.
"If the forces hit, harassed and forced people to undress, it is not a policy," he said.
The government had said the Democratic Association, led by Bun Ratha, was provoking a separatist movement.
Villagers say Ratha was helping them stand up to Casotim.
Forces also confiscated rice and gasoline and slaughtered poultry, said Touch Sok, a 52-year-old villager.
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