Wednesday, 18 July 2012
By May Titthara
Phnom Penh Post
Another
alleged “secessionist” involved in a land dispute was arrested
yesterday in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district, where villagers said
authorities continued a prolonged forced eviction that has led to the
destruction of some 500 homes.
Three other men accused of
attempting to create an autonomous state in Krapouie commune’s Kampong
Kdey village evaded a force of military and regular police officers who
stormed the village and began dismantling homes.
Pursat
provincial police chief Sarun Chanthy declined to name the arrested
suspect who he alleged had taken money from and granted land titles to
recently arrived migrants despite having no authority to do so.
“We
implemented on the villagers resettling in the new location only, and
villagers in the old village – we did nothing,” he said.
Khoy
Sokha, Pursat provincial governor, said the villagers had illegally
logged forest so they could cultivate farms in area, in defiance of
public warnings made by Prime Minister Hun Sen in a series of recent
speeches.
“We are seeking the arrest of the ringleaders. They
don’t listen to the authorities and that means they are forming an
autonomous area,” he said.
But two of the men who evaded arrest
said all they were guilty of was helping villagers stand up to District
Governor Che Chhiv, who had sold land to businessmen after promising it
to them in 2008.
“The district governor committed an act of
corruption against them. He hired workers to tear down villagers’ houses
to force them to leave and [then] took the land to sell to buyers,”
Chin Vorn said from hiding.
Vorn said Che Chhiv and the Krapouie
commune chief agreed to a 2008 request filed to the prime minister in
which 203 families asked to be granted 7,000 hectares of land.
The number of families had since increased to about 600, he added.
Che Chhiv hung up on a reporter when contacted yesterday.
Bul
Sun, also wanted by police, said new migrant families had come of their
own volition, and that by selling their land, the district governor had
forced them into forested areas.
“We lived here legally,
although there was no permission from the province yet. We did not go
against authorities and there was no association backing us. We hope
that the prime minister will help us,” he said.
In May, security
forces stormed a village in Kratie province that had long been
embroiled in a land dispute with a company, seeking to arrest suspects
from a group called the Association of Democrats for allegedly hatching a
secessionist plot.
Sun dismissed the suggestion he was in any way involved in undermining the state.
“If
we made an autonomous area, we would not let them remove our houses
easily. They had guns and we had empty hands. They said that we
established an autonomous area; we did not absolutely understand,” Sun
said.
To contact the reporter on this story: May Titthara at titthara.may@phnompenhpost.com
1 comment:
GOOD JOB, ARREST THEM, NO MERCY
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