The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 644
“Phnom Penh: The Svay Rieng court, on Wednesday morning of 23 December 2009, ordered the authorities to arrest two of the five villagers that are accused of removing temporary Cambodian-Vietnamese border markers.
“The two villagers are Ms. Meas Srey and Mr. Prum Chea. Both of them own rice fields, and they claim that they are now lost because of the Cambodian-Vietnamese border marker demarcation in Svay Rieng.
“Their families and activists said that Ms. Meas Srey and Mr. Prum Chea followed the provincial court’s summons on Wednesday morning, 23 December 2009, and both of them were then arrested at 11:00 a.m of the same day.
“Another villager, Ms. Neang Phally, planed to appear at the Svay Rieng municipal court also on Wednesday afternoon, but after the two villagers were arrested at the court, she immediately decided to escape.
“Two other villagers Ms. Prak Koen and Mr. Khan Chea were also summoned by the Svay Rieng court to appear on Thursday morning, 24 December 2009.
“Meanwhile, [opposition party president] Mr. Sam Rainsy was summoned by the Svay Rieng court to appear early next week on 28 December 2009. But now, he is in France and will not follow the court’s summon.
“Ms. Meas Srey, Mr. Prum Chea, Ms. Neang Phally, Ms. Prak Koen, and Mr. Khan Chea are villagers in the Samroang commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng, and they are accused by the provincial court of intentionally destroying the temporary border marker Number 185. The removal of this temporary border marker was led by Mr. Sam Rainsy at the above location on 25 October 2009.
“The older brother of Ms. Meas Srey, Mr. Meas Prel, said that he accompanied his sister to the provincial court on Wednesday morning and waited for her outside the court over one hour. Then he saw a police car carry her and Mr. Prum Chea away from the court.
“At that moment, Mr. Meas Prel sought help from the human rights NGO ADHOC in Svay Rieng. Contacted by phone, Mr. Meas Prel called on the court to release his younger sister [and another villager], because they all lost their land because of the setting of temporary Cambodian-Vietnamese border markers. Now they lost their land. Moreover, they were detained.
“The ADHOC coordinator in Svay Rieng who is observing this case, Mr. Nget Nara, asked the court to free the two villagers and lift the charges against these poor people.
“Mr. Nget Nara stressed that the court should take a humanitarian position into consideration, because arresting these people is like killing them and their families. We are in a paddy rice cultivating region, and those arrested people are just caring for their families. In addition, the arrest of villagers living along the Vietnamese border makes other villagers afraid and not daring to protest over other documented cases of injustice.
“The investigating judge of the Svay Rieng municipal court, Mr. Long Kesphirum, who had issued a summons and ordered the arrest of the two villagers temporarily over the removal of temporary Cambodian-Vietnamese border markers, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol. 17, #5081, 24.12.2009
This article was first published by The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 644 - Thursday, 24.12.2009
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Norbert Klein is the Editor of The Mirror – The Mirror is a daily comprehensive summary and translation of the major Khmer language press - More about The Mirror