Land Dispute Victims Threaten Suicide

CCHR MEDIA ALERT– 02 March 2013

Land Dispute Victims Threaten Suicide

In an announcement issued on 27 February 2013 to the Koh Kong Provincial Governor, nine villagers have expressed their intention to commit suicide in front of the Supreme Court if a case involving land claimed by the Heng Huy Agriculture Group Co. Ltd is decided against them. Chhun Rim, Bu Dy, Kiet Pao, Chhym Chhav, Chhym Pann, Pav Nhieng, Soung Rin, Chhun Rann and Kok Norn of Prek Chik village, Chikhor Kroum commune, Sre Ambel district, Koh Kong Province used their thumb prints to sign the document, which states that due to the complicity of authorities (including the Chief of Chikhor Kroum commune, Chief of Chikhor Leu commune, the Sre Ambel district Cadastral Officer and members of the Court) the villagers are left with no choice but to commit suicide in front of the Supreme Court if they lose the case, stating that ‘the pen of the court is the weapon to kill the people’.

On the same day four of the group, Ms. Phav Nhieng, Ms. Soung Rin, Ms. Chuun Rann, Ms. Kok Norn and another villager, Mr. Sous Um filed a complaint to Koh Kong provincial court requesting that the contract they made with the Heng Huy Agriculture Group Co. Ltd to hand over their land to the company be nullified on the basis they were intimidated and coerced into entering into the contract.[1] Villagers claim that they only consented in October 2010 to transfer their land to Mr. Heng Huy and his company because they feared the use of force from both the Company and the Working Group of Koh Kong Provincial Office, who helped facilitate the land transfer contract. The villagers also stated that intimidation, including the use of bulldozers and the presence of court officials, police and gendarmerie forces, meant that the families felt pressurized to enter into the contract which gave a vast portion of their land to the company. They stated that they had been promised that six months after making the contract they would receive hard land titles.

Heng Huy Agriculture Group Co. Ltd was granted 799.79 hectares of land at Chouk Village, Chikhor Le Commune, Sre Ambel District, Koh Kong Province[2] in 2008, a decision which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2009.[3] However, the company subsequently went on to implement this verdict, with the support of hundreds of armed forces, on a different site; at Prek Chik village, Chikhor Kroum commune.[4] This resulted in a dispute affecting 80 hectares of land and impacting 24 families, a conflict that continues today.

CCHR Land Reform Project Coordinator Vann Sophath comments: “This is the reflection of how the land conflict situation in Cambodia today is worsening and how marginalized communities can be victimized in land conflicts. I hope the Supreme Court will act in its judicial role to give justice to the people who have announced that their life is in the Supreme Court’s hands. The Koh Kong court of first instance must consider carefully the peoples’ complaint and whether the contract transferring their land to Mr. Heng Huy was lawful or whether it was made under duress and should therefore be nullified”.   

For more information, please contact Vann Sophath via telephone at  +855 (0) 12 941 206  or e-mail at vann.sophath@cchrcambodia.org or Senior Consultant Robert Finch via telephone at  +855 (0) 7880 9960  or e-mail at robert.finch@cchrcambodia.org.