32 arrested in Siem Reap land row

Rann Reuy and Mom Kunthear

Phnom Penh Post

THIRTY-two villagers – including three children – accused of clearing state land in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district on Monday were arrested and detained overnight at the provincial military police station, and 14 “ringleaders” have since been charged and placed in pretrial detention in connection with an ongoing land row, officials said Tuesday.

The operation, carried out in connection with an ongoing row pitting more than 50 families against Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers, was swiftly condemned by rights groups, which said it offered evidence of two worrying trends: an increase in arrests stemming from such disputes, and the use of military personnel to resolve them.

Hok Pov, an investigating judge at Siem Reap provincial court, said military police and soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces arrested the 32 villagers Monday night after they refused to stop clearing a 150-hectare area of land in Phnom Kulen National Park.

He said 14 people who had been singled out as “ringleaders” were charged Tuesday with “destruction of trees in state plantation land” and placed in pretrial detention.

The remaining villagers had been released, Hok Pov said.

The villagers say that Prime Minister Hun Sen granted them the disputed land, located in Siem Reap’s Tbeng commune, in 2006.

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