Mother’s fight to end with a homecoming

Written by Sen DavidMonday, 09 January 2012 12:01

A mother who has been battling since November to have her daughter returned from Malaysia –where she has allegedly been beaten and tortured while working as a maid – yesterday said herdaughter’s employer, Champa Manpower Company, had agreed to terminate her two-yearcontract and pay for her flight home.

Chea Si Yan, 58, said her daughter, Sanh Makara, 31, from Pursat, had been taken to theCambodian embassy in Kuala Lumpur and would be returned home as “soon as possible”.

“Now she is at the embassy for questioning,” she said. “The embassy wants her and theemployment agency to meet face to face in the embassy to find justice and to prevent this fromhappening to another maid,” she said.

The concerned mother travelled from Pursat to Phnom Penh last Friday to file a complaint withthe Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking department. However, Champa Manpower hadcalled and asked her not to file the complaint, she said.

“The company promised that it would let my daughter return home as soon as possible bygiving her a plane ticket and terminating her contract.” Chea Si Yan filed a complaint withADHOC in November, which called for intervention to help her daughter who was being fedsub-standard meals and being locked inside her employer’s house.

Her complaint also voiced concerns for the safety of her 30-year-old goddaughter, MoaChamroune, who was working in Malaysia with the same company, but could not be contacted.

Sanh Makara had called her mother to complain that Champa Manpower’s partner agency inMalaysia had beaten her because they were unhappy with her performance, Chea Si Yan saidlast Tuesday.

“Her last employer ordered her to cook a cake, but she did not understand – she is not good atEnglish – so the employer was angry with her and sent her back to the agency. The agencythen beat her until she needed to be taken to hospital.”

Sanh Makara was now helping officials at the Cambodia Embassy in Malaysia to investigate herabuse claims, Chea Si Yan said.

Lim Mony, deputy head of the women’s section at ADHOC, said she was satisfied that SanhMakara was safe.

“Now that she is at the Cambodian Embassy, officials will help her find justice against theperson who mistreated her,” she said.

Chea Si Yan remained concerned for Moa Chamroune, who still could not be contacted, shesaid.

Chive Phally, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking department, said

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Mother’s fight to end with a homecoming

Written by Sen DavidMonday, 09 January 2012 12:01

the department would investigate the case.

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Preah Vihear landmine kills officer

Written by Tep NimolMonday, 09 January 2012 12:01

A landmine killed a deputy police chief who was patrolling in a forest at the Cambodia-Thailandborder in Preah Vihear province on Friday, an official said yesterday.

Leang Bunkheang, 48, deputy police chief for the protection of border 793, stationed near DaunTom temple, died instantly when he triggered a “coconut-sized” mine with his hand while sittingdown while on patrol with soldiers in Choam Ksan district, Chea Lay, police chief of theprotection of border 793, said.

“The working group who went with him could not save him . . . He was dead at the scene.”  

Saem Pornreay, a Cambodian Mine Action Centre spokesman, said many mines in PreahVihear had been there more than 30 years and he urged police, soldiers and residents alongthe border to be careful. Since 1979, 64,000 people have been either killed or maimed byunexploded ordnance in Cambodia, he said.

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Tuol Kork families say thumbprints ill-gotten

Written by Khouth Sophak ChakryaMonday, 09 January 2012 12:01

Nearly 20 families living in the capital’s Tuol Kork district yesterday accused local authorities ofmisleading some residents into thumbprinting documents agreeing to have their homesdismantled.

Ma Lin, a 56-year-old representative of 17 families living along street 347 in Boeung Kak Icommune’s village 3, told the Post that officials had threatened to bulldoze their houses if theydid not accept US$743 and houses on six by 12 metre plots of land in Kandal province.

She added that last month, village and district authorities had asked her to thumbprint adocument that included the names of her family members, which officials claimed was ademographic census for 2012.

“Many villagers ... thumbprinted the document without reading its content clearly,” Ma Lin said,adding that 12 families had thumbprinted a document stating they were living on the roadsidetemporarily and agreeing to dismantle their houses if required.

Commune chief Vet Darith yesterday denied that officials had deceived the villagers.

“There is not any relocation of the villagers by eviction, though they live on the public road side,”he said.

He added that more than 130 families who lived along Street 347 before municipal authoritiesexpanded it in 2007 had already accepted compensation.

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Disorder in the court Mary Kozlovski and Vong Sokheng

Tuesday, 10 January 2012

CO-INVESTIGATING JUDGE YOU BUNLENG. REUTERS

CO-INVESTIGATING JUDGE LAURENT KASPER-ANSERMET. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Cambodian Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng has accused his reserve international counterpart at the Khmer Rouge tribunal of intending to conceal a public statement regarding the court’s controversial third and fourth cases from national officials at the United Nations-backed court. International Reserve Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet revealed in a statement released by the court yesterday that Bunleng had disagreed with him about the release of “important” information relating to cases 003 and 004. “[The international reserve co-investigating judge] regrets that the National Co-Investigating Judge does not agree to release information about important decisions submitted in December by the International Reserve Co-Investigating Judge in Case Files 003 and 004,” the statement reads. In a response released by the court, Bunleng said that Kasper-Ansermet’s issuing the statement on a national holiday, when Cambodian court officials were not working at the court, reflected “an intention to conceal it from the knowledge of all national sides” and that the reserve judge was acting as an “outreach officer rather than a Judicial one”.

Speaking on behalf of Kasper-Ansermet yesterday, court spokesman Lars Olsen said that the judge had sent a copy of his statement to Bunleng on Friday afternoon. Neither Kasper-Ansermet nor Bunleng could be reached for comment. Yesterday was not the first time the two judges have clashed since Kasper-Ansermet was nominated as co-investigating judge at the court by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. On December 6, Kasper-Ansermet stated that he had assumed his office in Phnom Penh and would “endeavour to keep the public sufficiently informed” about developments in cases 003 and 004, in accordance with court rules. On the same day, Bunleng said in a statement that any procedural action taken by Kasper-Ansermet was legally invalid until he was officially nominated by Cambodian authorities for the role. He reiterated claims yesterday that Kasper-Ansermet did not have the legal authority to take action in respect to the case files. Olsen said that he was not in a position to comment where there appeared to be a disagreement between Bunleng and Kasper-Ansermet about “what authority the international reserve has”. Kasper-Ansermet, a Swiss national, is set to replace former international co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk, who resigned in October citing statements from government officials that cases 003 and 004 may not proceed as his motivation. Blunk’s resignation came amid criticism of himself and Bunleng after the investigation into Case 003 was quietly closed in April, reportedly without the judges having interviewed suspects or conducted visits to crime sites. Kasper-Ansermet must be officially appointed to the position of international co-investigating judge by the Cambodian Supreme Council of Magistracy. When asked about the delay in Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment, Ek Tha,

spokesman at the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said the government had no intention to “delay and interfere” with the work of the court. Members of the Supreme Council of Magistracy could not be reached for comment. Clair Duffy, a tribunal monitor for Open Society Justice Initiative, said that while Kasper-Ansermet’s role remains unclear, the office of the co-investigating judges will be at a stalemate. “The Cambodian government stalling on Judge Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment … is a huge cause for concern for cases 003 and 004 and for the court’s credibility,” Duffy said

Some offered Borei Keila solution Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Kim Yuthana

Tuesday, 10 January 2012

A WOMAN EVICTED FROM THE BOREI KEILA COMMUNITY IN PHNOM PENH TAKES WATER FROM A POT AT THE TUOL SAMBO RELOCATION SITE YESTERDAY. PHA LINA

A WOMAN EVICTED FROM THE BOREI KEILA COMMUNITY LAST WEEK SITS UNDER A MAKE-SHIFT SHELTER AT A RELOCATION SITE MORE THAN 40 KILOMETRES OUTSIDE PHNOM PENH IN SRAH POU VILLAGE, PHSAR DEK COMMUNE, IN KANDAL PROVINCE’S PONHEA LEU DISTRICT YESTERDAY. MORE THAN 100 FAMILIES EVICTED LAST WEEK ARE NOW LIVING UNDER SHELTERS MADE OF SHEETS, TARPAULINS AND SALVAGED WOOD AT TWO RELOCATION SITES. HONG MENEA

The owner of development firm Phan Imex has pledged to grant plots of land, equipment and food to some families who were relocated to Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district this week after they were violently evicted from Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila community. On Tuesday, more than 100 police, military police and company security guards demolished more than 200 homes in Borei Keila, in a clash that left at least 10 people injured. Eight residents were arrested and charged with intentional violence and obstructing public officials. They are being detained in Prey Sar prison. Yesterday, Phan Imex owner Suy Sophan said she would grant 75 of the 197 families who relocated to Srah Po village in Phsar Daek commune – which the company previously referred to as Phnom Bat village – five-by-12-metre plots of land. The remaining 122 families had already received flats at Borei Keila in eight buildings constructed by the company, Suy Sophan said. “They received houses from our development project, so we cannot give them land,” Suy Sophan said yesterday, as she, municipal and provincial officials verified which families would receive land, equipment and food in the village. “The poor residents who were provided with nothing from our project will suffer from injustice if we give land to those greedy cheaters,” she said. In 2003, Phan Imex agreed to build 10 buildings on two hectares of land to provide housing for 1,776 families, in exchange for development rights to 2.6 hectares. The company constructed eight buildings before suspending construction in 2010, leaving almost 400 families in limbo. More than 60 families were still seeking on-site housing at Borei Keila in accordance with the 2003 contract, 39-year-old Borei Keila representative Chum Nhann said. Evicted families moved to resettlement sites in Tuol Sambo village, on

Phnom Penh’s outskirts, and Srah Po village, in Kandal province, where some families had already relocated. Resident Phoung Linda, who received an apartment in Borei Keila, said she had come to the village to obtain housing for her younger sister but had been told by the company that they counted as one family. Some residents from among the 75 families yesterday accused other families of cheating to obtain land when they had already received housing. Am Sam Ath, senior monitor with rights group Licadho, called for the firm to provide the land to villagers who had not yet received flats and had rented houses in Borei Keila. Residents in the village said yesterday they did not have fresh water, adequate sanitation, proper housing or kitchen equipment. In Tuol Sambo village 27, relocated families are expected to receive land titles, according to local officials and Borei Keila residents.

Audience with king still a vivid memory

Written by Mom KunthearWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

Hem Rith, 53, speaks to the Post yesterday on the sidelines of the Khmer Rouge tribunal.Heng Chivoan Hem Rith guesses she was only 5 years old when she was snatched from her home in Kandalprovince by the Khmer Rouge to work as a waiter in the Royal Palace, but it was not until hermaster consoled her one day that she discovered her boss was then-King Norodom Sihanouk.

The 53-year-old’s bones are visible beneath her sun-darkened skin, but despite physicalevidence of hardship, she is stoic in remembering the fate the murderous Khmer Rouge regimechose for her in serving Democratic Kampuchea’s figureheads at the Royal Palace during theirreign.

“About two weeks after I was taken from Takeo to the Royal Palace, [then-King NorodomSihanouk] talked to me and asked me where I came from, and he also asked me whether Iknew him or not, and I said no,” Hem Rith, sitting in the cafeteria at the Khmer Rouge tribunal,said yesterday.

“He told me that he is the king [Norodom Sihanouk]. I was so surprised and scared, but he said‘don’t be afraid’.”

Hem Rith said her job was not that difficult comparatively, and counts herself as a lucky survivor– her two elder brothers were tortured to death during the Khmer Rouge’s reign. During her visitto the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, the first day of hearings for 2012, Hem Rith said shebarely recognised the Royal Palace’s other famous resident.

“I know and used to talk to [ex-Democratic Kampuchea president] Khieu Samphan when Iworked in the Royal Palace,” Hem Rith recalled.

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Audience with king still a vivid memory

Written by Mom KunthearWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

“He shouted at me when I asked him if I could stop working as the cook … but he did not fightor torture me, he changed my role from cooking to serving food to the King.

“Khieu Samphan is very old now. He used to be a handsome man, but I hardly recognise him,”she said.

“Khieu Samphan is a strong and cruel person, but I never saw him kill anyone,” Hem Rith said,adding that she was undecided whether the tribunal would be able to deliver justice for all thepeople killed by the Khmer Rouge.

“I cannot say whether the court can provide the justice for our people or my older brothers, [but]I keep following with this hearing,” she said.

Last week, the tribunal announced it had hit a milestone of more than 100,000 visitors, includinga large percentage of victims and civil parties.

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Borei Keila kids cry corruption

Written by Khouth SophakchakryaWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

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Families plead for return of daughters from Malaysia

Written by Sen DavidWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

The relatives of five maids working in Malaysia file complaints on Monday with the KampongChhnang office of the NGO Adhoc. Photo Supplied Two Cambodian women working asmaids in Malaysia have been missing for two years, while another three are being preventedfrom returning home, despite having finished their contracts, their concerned families saidyesterday.

Parents and relatives of the five maids filed complaints on Monday with the Kampong Chhnangprovincial office of human rights group Adhoc, which has promised to forward the complaints tothe Ministry of Interior.

The maids’ families, who live in Por commune’s Kampong Leng district, said the women wereemployed by three different companies on two-year contracts in December 2009.

Dol Sam An, 18, and Kok Hon, 22, who were employed by STC, were missing, while Von Kolab,27, who was employed by Human Power, and Houn Srey Moa, 21, and Merng Kea, 28,employed by T&C company, had not been allowed to return home, the families said.

Dol Chan, 60, Dol Sam An’s father, said each family had been paid about US$150 when theirdaughters signed on.

He had expected his daughter to send money back to her family; however, she had notcontacted them at all.

“I do not know if she is safe. We worry that she is working so far away from us. She has notcalled or visited us for two years.

“I am so old. I miss my daughter so much. I have no information about what she is doing or

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Families plead for return of daughters from Malaysia

Written by Sen DavidWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

where she is,” he said.

Sok Pring, 52, said her daughter Houn Srey Moa had finished a contract with T&C last month,but the company had refused to let her come home.

“Her employer threatens that if she does not continue working, the employer will not give her asalary – not even a single riel. They have forced my daughter to keep working. I need her back,”she said.

Som Chan Kea, an ADHOC coordinator, said the human rights group would send thecomplaints to the Ministry of Interior.

“The companies are ignoring these families and refusing to offer solutions. The company doesnot have the right to control these women,” he said.

Chan Na, a Human Power spokeswoman, disputed that Von Kolab was being held against herwill and said she would be bought a return ticket – just as soon as prices dropped.

“The company and employer are willing to send her back because her contract has finished.However, it is nearly Chinese New Year and ticket prices are more expensive,” she said.

Last Friday, Chea Si Yan, from Pursat province, won a battle for her daughter Sanh Makara tobe released from her contract after allegations she was being beaten and tortured while workingas a maid in Malaysia. She has not yet returned to Cambodia.

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KRT appointment overdue: monitor

Written by Mary Kozlovski and Vong SokhengWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

The failure of Cambodian authorities to officially appoint international reserve co-investigatingjudge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to his position at the Khmer Rouge tribunal is hamperingprogress in the court’s third and fourth cases, an independent monitoring group said yesterday.

In a statement released yesterday, the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative calledfor the  Supreme Council of Magistracy’s immediate appointment of Laurent Kasper-Ansermetto the position of full co-invesigating judge.

“Contrary to previous practice, the Cambodian government has continued to stall on providingformal approval, effectively leaving the judicial investigations in a state of limbo,” OSJI said inthe statement.

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, municipal court president Chiv Keng and Appeal Courtprosecutor Uk Savuth, who are all members of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, could not bereached for comment.

OSJI also urged the UN and the court’s donors to “publicly insist” on the immediateendorsement of Judge Kasper-Ansermet as full co-investigating judge. Martin Nesirky,spokesman for the UN Office of the Secretary-General, declined comment yesterday.

On Monday, Kasper-Ansermet revealed that National Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng haddisagreed with him about the release of “important” information regarding cases 003 and 004, ina statement released by the court.

Judge Bunleng has stated that Judge Kasper-Ansermet does not yet have the legal authority totake action regarding cases 003 and 004.

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Plaintiffs called in KDC case

Written by Chhay ChannydaWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

Villagers involved in a land dispute with the KDC International company at their home in LorPeang village, in Kampong Chhnang province, in September last year. Derek Stout Eight residents of a village of Kampong Chhnang province’s Kompong Tralach district havebeen summonsed to the provincial court to answer questions about their civil suit against acompany they accuse of grabbing 145 hectares of land.

Four of the five judges hearing the complaints, however, told villagers they had been unable tosummons the owner of the company because they did not know her address, or that of hercompany, KDC International, Pheng Rom, a representative of the families, told the Postyesterday.

Sam Chankea, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, who was convicted of defamationearly last year for comments made to reporters about the company, also said that the judgestold villagers they could not find its address, so they were unable to summons a representativeof it.

“It shows they don’t intend to solve the complaints,” Sam Chankea said.  

KDC is owned by Chea Keng, wife of the minister of mines and energy, and a high-rankingmember of the Cambodian Red Cross, which is run by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s wife, BunRany.

Rights groups have accused the company of using the courts to harass, intimidate, silence andimprison community leaders. Five villagers will be questioned tomorrow and three others will bequestioned next Tuesday, Pheng Rom said.

“We have been summonsed as plaintiffs [in the suit] to demand our land back,” said Pheng

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Plaintiffs called in KDC case

Written by Chhay ChannydaWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01

Rom. “The company grabbed our land and has not even developed anything on it,” he added.  

Pheng Rom alleged that in 2008, the company bulldozed plantations and rice fields in order todestroy evidence villagers could use to prove ownership, referring to fruit trees as well as therice-paddy dykes farmers had used to demarcate family plots. In early 2008, villagers weredriven from land they had farmed by armed police. Three community leaders have been jailedsince 2007 and a fourth has fled to Thailand where she is seeking refugee status from theUNHCR, rights groups say.

Pheng Rom said the five judges had been assigned to hear the complaints, filed in late 2010 by22 families, over a dispute that dates back to 2002 when KDC claimed land more than 100families said they had been farming since 1982.

Meanwhile, 100 villagers who said they had lost faith in the court system gathered on Mondayat a spiritual hill near the village to curse those involved in aiding the alleged land grab, callingfor their lives to end in car crashes, drowning or other accidents.

Judge San Sophat said the spiritual ceremony would have no influence on the court.

“Whatever ceremony they hold, I don’t care. What I judge is based on evidence both sideshave,” he said, adding that he had summonsed both sides in the dispute.

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Nuon Chea team targets PM

Written by Mary Kozlovski with additional reporting by Vong SokhengWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:02

Nuon Chea (left), aka ‘Brother Number Two’, attends a hearing at the Extraordinary Chambersin the Courts of Cambodia on the outskirts of Phnom Penh yesterday. ECCC/Pool Defence lawyers for former Khmer Rouge Brother Number Two Nuon Chea yesterday criticisedremarks allegedly made by Prime Minister Hun Sen about their client, during the first day ofevidence hearings this year at the United Nations-backed tribunal.

Co-defence counsel for Nuon Chea Michiel Pestman said in court that the alleged remarks byHun Sen, quoted by a journalist at a press conference in Vietnam last week, referred to NuonChea as a “killer” and described his statement in court last month as “deceitful”.

“This is a very clear statement about the guilt of Nuon Chea by a high government official,”Pestman said in court. During testimony at the tribunal last year, 85-year-old Nuon Cheaclaimed that Vietnam had made repeated attempts to invade Cambodia.

Pestman said in court that the journalist had quoted Hun Sen as allegedly calling their client “akiller and a perpetrator of genocide”.

He told the court that the comments were a violation of his client’s right to a fair trial and that itwas “not up to the Prime Minister to decide whether my client is guilty”.

Ek Tha, spokesman at the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, declinedto comment on the premier’s alleged comments and said that “legally speaking” Nuon Cheawas innocent until proven guilty.

Nuon Chea is facing trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of theGeneva Conventions. The first “mini-trial” of the court’s second case focuses on the forcedmovement of the population from urban centres.

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Nuon Chea team targets PM

Written by Mary Kozlovski with additional reporting by Vong SokhengWednesday, 11 January 2012 12:02

Nuon Chea yesterday responded to questioning from the prosecution about the party’s activitiesduring the pre-1975 period, during which he questioned the authenticity of certain documentspresented to him in court.

Civil parties Romam Yun, 70, and Klan Fit also continued their testimony yesterday. Underquestioning from Trial Chamber Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne, Romam Yun said that those whoworked “at the commune level” reported to “Angkar” and that he was reprimanded because hiscommunity was not able to produce more crops.

Romam Yun said that people did not have enough food and “some people were hangingthemselves because they could not really stand the situation”.

Klan Fit, who previously testified to joining the revolutionary movement in the 1960s, testifiedyesterday that he had twice met co-accused Ieng Sary at meetings during the pre-1975 period.

He said that he had never heard party leaders discuss the evacuation, but was told that peoplewere evacuated because they were in danger of being attacked by Vietnam.

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Delay in appointing judge worries UN

Written by Mary Kozlovski and Vong Sokheng Thursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

The United Nations expressed concern yesterday about ongoing delays in Cambodia toofficially appoint international Reserve Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to thefull position at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal.

Kasper-Ansermet, a Swiss national, was nominated by the UN to replace former internationalco-Investigating judge Siegfried Blunk, who resigned abruptly in October.

Martin Nesirky, spokesman for the UN office of the secretary-general, said via email yesterdaythe UN had “made every effort” to secure Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment, including  severaldiscussions with Cambodian officials.

“The United Nations is concerned that, more than three months after the resignation of theinternational Co-Investigating Judge, the Supreme Council of the Magistracy has not appointedthe reserve international Co-Investigating Judge to replace him,” Nesirky said.

He added that, according to the agreement that established the tribunal, Cambodia was obligedto appoint the reserve judge to the position when it fell vacant.

Sam Pracheameanith, chief of cabinet at the Ministry of Justice, told the Post he was unsurewhen the Supreme Council of Magistracy would call a meeting about Kasper-Ansermet’sappointment.

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana and Appeal Court prosecutor Uk Savuth, both SupremeCouncil of Magistracy members, could not reached.

Since his arrival in Cambodia, Kasper-Ansermet has sparred with National Co-InvestigatingJudge You Bunleng.

In a statement released by the court this week, he said he regretted Bunleng’s disagreementwith him about the release of “important” information regarding the files for cases 003 and 004.

Bunleng  replied that Kasper-Ansermet was not “legally accredited” to undertake action withrespect to the case files.

Clair Duffy, a monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative, said yesterday that while the UN’sengagement with the government should continue, the broader issue was the governmentoverstepping its executive authority in relation to the court’s prosecutions.

“Whether that’s by publicly stating its opposition to the cases, by stalling on providing a rubberstamp to Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment or by its administrators dismantling the [Office of theCo-Investigating Judges],” she said.

“That’s never been addressed head-on by the UN.”

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KRT hears of revolution by fear

Written by Mary KozlovskiThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post

Visitors enter the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. A civil party testified at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday under questioning from defenceteams that he had joined the revolutionary movement in the early 1960s because he was “afraidof Angkar”, the name then used to refer to the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.

When questioned by national co-defence counsel for former Khmer Rouge Brother Number TwoNuon Chea, Son Arun, about his previous testimony that he had been forced to join themovement, Klan Fit said that the Angkar “came out of the jungle” to urban areas.

“I was afraid of them, I was told to do things,” he testified.

Klan Fit, who said he had been a district deputy secretary, described later observing regimeleader Pol Pot in Ratanakkiri province whom he said had a “big belly but a small head”.

He said that he had also seen both Ieng Sary and Nuon Chea.

Son Arun asked Klan Fit about his arrival in Phnom Penh in September 1978, a city the civilparty described as “very quiet”.

“I want to tell the court that everything I did, I did on orders by those senior people,” Klan Fitsaid in court.

National co-defence counsel for Ieng Sary, Ang Udom, pressed Klan Fit about previousstatements that he had been “forced” to join the movement.

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KRT hears of revolution by fear

Written by Mary KozlovskiThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

Klan Fit said that through “propaganda” he was convinced to join the revolution and that thiswas a “coercive measure”.

While under questioning from the prosecution earlier yesterday about the party’s activities in thepre-1975 period, Nuon Chea testified that no single group of people was regarded “enemies ofthe party”.

“We were trying to reduce enemies, increase friends,” the 85-year-old defendant said. “This isour slogan.

“There were individuals who could have been regarded as the enemies of the party . . . thosespies who leaked the information from within the party to the enemies so that the enemies couldattack the party,” Nuon Chea said.

Nuon Chea, along with co-accused Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan, have been charged withcrimes against humanity, genocide and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

The first “mini-trial” in the court’s second case will hear only charges relating to the forcedmovement of the population from Phnom Penh and other urban centres in the early stages ofthe regime.

Under questioning from international deputy co-prosecutor Dale Lysak, Nuon Chea said thatsome people did not understand how poor people were living at the time.

“Their perspective could have been very much different from those who would enjoy very goodlifestyles in the cities, who enjoyed having fun with girls and wine,” he said.

Nuon Chea also testified that he did not fill Pol Pot’s role as party leader when he fell ill.

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Land-grab fears: Villagers put on edge by firms’ signs

Written by Sen DavidThursday, 12 January 2012 12:03

Representatives of more that 200 Kouy ethnic minority families in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sendistrict filed complaints with rights group Adhoc yesterday claiming two separate companieshave encroached on nearly 6,000 acres of their farmland.

Oeun Art, a representative from the Saang commune, said the villagers decided to file acomplaint after the companies began placing signs claiming ownership around the land lastmonth.

“We are deeply worried, because this is our farmland, which we have depended on for making aliving as far back as my ancestors,” the representative said.

Adhoc’s monitor in Preah Vihear, Lor Chan, identified the two companies in question as theHeng Noung Company and the Heang Rouy Company, and said authorities had “taken noaction” despite the companies’ putting up signs for “many years”.

Chey Sen governor Thoung Sokern said the companies were simply studying and measuringthe land for a potential land concession and that the villagers should not “panic or worry”.

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Night in cell for Borei Keila kids

Written by Khoun LeakhanaThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

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Night in cell for Borei Keila kids

Written by Khoun LeakhanaThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

About 30 Borei Keila residents, including six children, were being detained in a small cell in PreySpeu Correctional Centre in the capital’s Chaom Chao commune last night after police forcedthem onto a bus outside city hall on Preah Monivong Boulevard during another day of protests,a detained resident said.

For the second day in a row, displaced residents marched from Borei Keila – where their homeslie in ruins – to the city centre to demand municipal governor Kep Chutema resolve their landdispute and release the eight residents detained during violent clashes in Borei Keila onJanuary 3.

Residents handed Hok Hour Lim, deputy director of the legal office of city hall, a petition atabout 10:45am.

Defying an order to go home because they “had no homes”, about 30 of the 45 residentsprotested throughout the afternoon – chanting slogans through megaphones, waving signs andspilling onto the road – before about 60 police forced them onto a bus about 4:30pm, whichdrove them to the correctional facility.

Speaking by phone from Prey Speu late yesterday, detained villager Chum Ngan, 36, said all 30people, including six children, were being detained in a 10 x 10 metre room.

“I heard that the officials said that we have to be detained here until all the old buildings in BoreiKeila community are destroyed and the dispute is solved,” she said.

Kiet Chhe, deputy administrative director of municipal hall, defended the response from theauthorities, saying residents had been sent to Prey Speu “for their own protection”.

“We took them there to give them protection and vocational training and to support their childrento go to school,” he said. “We don’t want their children in their protest because they have to goto school.”

Khiev Malay, 38, said Daun Penh district police had pushed her to the ground and kicked heruntil she was unconscious during the protest; however, police denied this allegation.

Naly Pilorge, director of rights group Licadho, said residents were being treated as “sub-human”and their detention at the correctional centre was likely to enflame the situation.

“This decision ... is illegal and shocking. If there needed to be any further proof of Prey Speu’ssole purpose, this is it,” she said.

“The goal is likely to get these people out of the way so that the controversy dies down. But thismay in fact do the opposite.

“This action really raises the ante in what was already an outrageous case.”

In 2003, Phan Imex agreed to construct 10 buildings on two hectares of land at Borei Keila to

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Night in cell for Borei Keila kids

Written by Khoun LeakhanaThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

house 1,776 families, in exchange for development rights to a remaining 2.6 hectares.

The firm has constructed only eight buildings.

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Protest blocks national road

Written by Phak SeanglyThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

Sreng Meng Srun/Phnom Penh Post

Equipment sits at a digging site yesterday in Dangkor district, where villagers burned tyres andblocked National Road 2 to protest against a company they claim is encroaching on theirfarmland. More than 100 residents from two villages in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district burned tyres onNational Road No. 2 yesterday to protest against an earthmoving company’s diggings, whichthey said were causing their land to sink and collapse.

Residents of Srey Snom and Kraing Svay villages, in Prek Kompoes commune, told the Postthe Khutdyvathana company dug up and removed “truckloads” of dirt from an adjoining propertyeach day.

This had created a huge hole, causing the villagers’ land to collapse into it.

The villagers fear their houses will be next.

They blocked the busy road to demand that the company stop digging, saying it was affectingtheir rice fields and plantations and the company’s trucks were polluting the environment.

Sum Siem, 45, said her four hectares of rice fields had sunk in the past three years. She hadreported the issue to the company and authorities, but had not been offered a solution.

“If they keep digging, we worry that one day there will be no more rice fields for us to use,” shesaid.

Resident So Mony said Khutdyvathana had been excavating on the site for three years, creatinga deep hole.

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Protest blocks national road

Written by Phak SeanglyThursday, 12 January 2012 12:04

As much as eight hectares of some villagers’ land had been damaged, So Mony said.

“We are protesting to ask them to shut down their operation, because it makes our rice fieldscollapse,” he said.

Korn Soken, deputy chief of Prek Kompoes commune, said digging was affecting the villagers’land and had an impact on the environment.

The authority had asked the company to solve the problem in the past, but it had not complied,he said.

Huon Savuth, an assistant to Khutdyvathana’s director, said the company had met with villagersand agreed to compensate some of them. “Only three or four families have been affected, nothundreds,” he said.

Dangkor district governor Nut Puthdara could not be reached for comment.

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Borei Keila families kept apart

Written by Khouth SophakchakryaFriday, 13 January 2012 12:03

.Hong Menea/ Phnom Penh Post Police and security guards force former Borei Keila residents, including children, onto a busduring a protest at the Phnom Penh City Hall. The protesters were sent to the Prey SpeuCorrectional Centre. A group of civil society groups yesterday condemned the “unlawful” detention of 30 women andchildren from Borei Keila and described the facility they are being held in – the Prey SpeuCorrectional Centre – as worse than Cambodia’s prisons and a place of rape, torture andbeatings.

The outcry came on a day when husbands and fathers of the detainees travelled to thecorrectional centre in Chaom Chao commune to plead for their loved ones’ release, the UNdelivered food to the 30 detainees at the site, and it was revealed that seven of those detainedin the protest were not even Borei Keila residents.

Yann Thoeun, 39, the husband of Chan Sreypheap, who was detained on Wednesday, saidofficials at Prey Speu had refused to let the husbands and fathers of the women and childrenenter the centre.

“We are allowed to see and face each other, but we are talking to each other between a metaldoor,” he said.

The statement condemning the arrests is endorsed by 10 groups, including Housing RightsTask Force and LICADHO, and calls for the immediate release of Borei Keila residents and theclosure of Prey Speu.

“The arrests were executed by both police and Daun Penh district security guards. The securityguards have no legal power to arrest anyone,” it reads.

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Borei Keila families kept apart

Written by Khouth SophakchakryaFriday, 13 January 2012 12:03

“It is not even accurate to call these arrests,” Yeng Virak, executive director of the CommunityLegal Education Center, says in the statement.

“Arrest implies a lawful warrant, legal due process and criminal charges.”

The statement says organisations such as Licadho and Human Rights Watch have documentedwidespread abuses, including illegal confinement, rapes, beatings, deaths and torture, at PreySpeu and other social affairs centres.

“Conditions are in many cases worse than in Cambodia’s prisons, and the authorities provide nodue process to detainees.”

The Ministry of Social Affairs, which said on Wednesday that the Prey Speu Correctional Centrewould provide protection and vocational training for the detainees, could not be reached forcomment yesterday.

Detainee Sak Mony, 63, told the Post by phone that authorities had forced her to thumbprint adocument yesterday.

“Now we are worried that we will be sent to Tuol Sambo or Phnom Bat,” she said.

Seven of the women detained on Wednesday were not from Borei Keila, one of the husbandssaid — a fact confirmed by Koet Chhe, deputy director of administration at Phnom PenhMunicipality.

Borei Keila residents are still calling for the release of eight others arrested on January 3 duringviolent clashes as 200 homes were demolished.

In 2003, development firm Phan Imex agreed to construct 10 buildings on two hectares of landfor Borei Keila residents in return for development rights to a remaining 2.6 hectares. It hasconstructed only eight.

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Kampong Chhnang battle: Villagers tell their side of land dispute

Written by Sen DavidFriday, 13 January 2012 12:03

Residents of Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang province finally got a chance yesterday tobegin telling judges their side of a long-running land dispute with a company owned by the wifeof a minister.

Dem Chan, 32, told the court he owned 1.5 hectares, had lived and farmed on it for 13 years,and submitted a letter from local authorities confirming his statements.

“I really never did sell to the company, and I did not receive any money from it, not even oneriel,” he said. “I know I own my land in my heart.”

Three more village residents will testify next week, after five did yesterday, in a civil suit againstKDC International, which they claim grabbed 145 hectares of land from residents of the villagein the province’s Kampong Tralach district.

The company is owned by Chea Kheng, wife of the minister of mines and energy.

Villagers and rights groups have accused the courts of being biased.

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Khieu Samphan stays silent

Written by Mary KozlovskiFriday, 13 January 2012 12:04

Eccc/Pool/Phnom Penh Post Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan (right) speaks to one of his lawyers at ahearing earlier this week. An evidence hearing in Case 002 at the Khmer Rouge tribunal was cut short yesterday afterco-accused former nominal head of state Khieu Samphan stated that he would exercise hisright to remain silent when questioned about the historical background of the regime.

Trial Chamber Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne asked the 80-year-old defendant if he wouldcomment on documents before the chamber, including statements Khieu Samphan made toinvestigating judges in December 2007.

One of the statements, read out by Judge Lavergne, detailed Khieu Samphan describing hisfirst meeting with regime leader Pol Pot and Nuon Chea about September 1970, during which Pol Pot referred to him as a “son of the ruined feudal class”.

Khieu Samphan said that what he had related to investigating judges had been reflected in hisstatement to the court last year.

“I was tolerated . . . I was from the feudal class, and I was not in line with the views of the party,”he said in court, before refusing to comment further.

Khieu Samphan said in court last month that he would not respond to questioning until theprosecution had presented the evidence against him.

Khieu Samphan, along with co-accused former Khmer Rouge Brother Number Two Nuon Cheaand former foreign affairs minister Ieng Sary, is facing charges of genocide, crimes againsthumanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

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Khieu Samphan stays silent

Written by Mary KozlovskiFriday, 13 January 2012 12:04

During testimony yesterday, Nuon Chea said that “spies” had been appointed within the party togather information on people whose activities were considered “suspicious”.

International deputy co-prosecutor Dale Lysak questioned Nuon Chea about what happened to“spies or enemy agents” who were captured by “secret defence units” that the defendant haddescribed in testimony last month.

“Democratic Kampuchea was very cautious about its revolution and about the traitors whoinfiltrated into the Angkar,” Nuon Chea said.

“Spies were appointed to gather information concerning those people, before the informationwas reported to the superiors who would thoroughly deliberate on the issue before they handeddown the measures.”

Nuon Chea said he “cannot accept the credibility” of copied documents presented by theprosecution and will not respond to questions based on them.

The court will hear arguments on the admissibility of documents put before the chamber nextweek.

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KRT judge backflip

Written by Bridget Di CertoFriday, 13 January 2012 12:04

Details of purported communications between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and PrimeMinister Hun Sen regarding the appointment of a new international judge at the Khmer Rougetribunal were released and then abruptly retracted by the Press and Quick Reaction Unityesterday afternoon.

The Council of Ministers’ spokesbody, the Press and Quick Reaction Unit, issued a pressstatement yesterday, including details of letters between the premier and Ban.

However, it was quickly replaced by a three-paragraph statement on the government’s positiontoward the endorsement of Swiss judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who will overseecontroversial cases 003 and 004 with his Cambodian counterpart.

“We wish not to reveal details about the communications,” Ek Tha of the PQRU told the Postafter the sudden replacement of the lengthy and detailed press statement with one of just threeparagraphs.

“The first press release was done by another staffer – that information is not for the media, wewish to retract the first statement.”

The “retracted” press statement detailed a November 3 response letter from Hun Sen to Ban’sOctober 18 request to him that the Supreme Council of Magistracy appoint Kasper-Ansermet asthe new co-investigating judge.

“Response from the Prime Minister to the Secretary-General suggesting prudent considerationin the light of ‘certain activities by Mr Laurent Kasper-Ansermet that have been brought to publicattention’,” the press statement reads.

However, this and the details of 11 other exchanges between the UN and the RoyalGovernment of Cambodia regarding the endorsement of Kasper-Ansermet were replaced by thePQRU with a three-paragraph press statement only 50 minutes later.

Ek Tha would not comment on whether Hun Sen had taken issue with Ban’s nomination ofKasper-Ansermet to assume the role of resigned German judge Siegfried Blunk.

“In general, there have been communications and written letters [about the appointment],” EkTha said, without providing further detail. “The Prime Minister talks at the national level andrepresents the national interest of Cambodia on the international stage.”

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An chairs the taskforce representing the Royal Government’sinterests on the Khmer Rouge, and it would be a significant issue for Hun Sen himself to beinvolved in discussions, Ek Tha said.

A sitdown between Hun Sen and Ban in 2010 made headlines after the premier reportedlyinformed Ban that “there would be no cases 003 and 004” at the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

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KRT judge backflip

Written by Bridget Di CertoFriday, 13 January 2012 12:04

Blunk, who was investigating cases 003 and 004, unexpectedly resigned from his post asinternational co-investigating judge more than three months ago, citing perceptions ofgovernment interference in the tribunal’s work as his motivation.

“We have never interfered with the work of the court,” Ek Tha said.

However, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan denied there had been anycorrespondence at all between Hun Sen and Ban.

“The Council of Ministers has drafted some reports, a profile of [Kasper-Ansermet] to give to theSupreme Council of Magistracy for information in making their decision whether to approvehim,” Phay Siphan told the Post yesterday.

Yesterday’s government press statement also said that the Supreme Council of Magistracy wasnow “independently carrying its normal procedures and legal considerations before a decisionwould be made”.

Clair Duffy, of the Open Society Justice Initiative, told the Post yesterday: “What concerns methe most about the press statement is the use of the word ‘decision’.

“Under the agreement [between the government and the UN establishing the tribunal], theSupreme Council of Magistracy approving a nominated judge is more of a technical procedure,not a ‘decision’,” Duffy said.

“There was no decision, no deliberation when Blunk was appointed,” Duffy said. “Blunk steppedin as soon as [his predecessor] stepped down.”

Information “retracted” by the PQRU yesterday indicated that Sok An had not forwarded therequest for Kasper-Ansermet’s endorsement to the Supreme Council of Magistracy until afterDecember 20, despite Blunk having resigned on October 10 and the UN officially nominatingKasper-Ansermet has his replacement the same day.

Under the rules governing the tribunal, Kasper-Ansermet “must” assume the position ofinternational co-investigating judge. The rules do not assign decision-making power to theSupreme Council of Magistracy on this endorsement.

On Tuesday, the OSJI called for the UN and donor countries to “publicly insist” thatKasper-Ansermet be endorsed by the Supreme Council of Magistracy immediately.

The tribunal’s investigations into cases 003 and 004, which are opposed by Hun Sen and otherhigh-ranking government officials, are effectively paralysed until an international investigatingjudge is appointed.

Tribunal legal affairs spokesman Lars Olsen referred questions about correspondence to Ban’soffice, which could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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Preah Vihear villagers make case

Written by Phak SeanglyFriday, 13 January 2012 12:03

Pha Lina/ Phnom Penh Post Villagers from Svay Chrum village in Preah Vihear province hold signs displaying theirdemolished homes yesterday during a protest at Wat Botum in Phnom Penh. More than 50 villagers from Preah Vihear’s Svay Chrum village ga­thered in protest for thesecond time in two weeks at the capital’s Wat Botum pagoda yesterday to urge Prime MinisterHun Sen to intervene in an ongoing land dispute with provincial authorities.

In late December, the National Authority of Preah Vihear began destroying homes in the ChoamKsan district to create space for government offices.

Residents in the area have been forced to move to a nearby

village, which they claim lacks basic infrastructure.

Yesterday, the villagers gathered with several banners and photos of their homes beingdestroyed by authorities.

A protestor at the pagoda, 32-year-old Khieu Bun Thoeun, said provincial security forcesthreatened Svay Chrum villagers when they attempted to return to their homes after they weredismantled.

“The villagers cried tears, then they were banned from the area. If the villagers dared to go[back to their homes] they would be shot. The bulldozed everything, not even one tree was leftstanding. I believed their threats,” he said.

Villagers submitted a letter to the Prime Minister’s cabinet last Friday asking for the “right to livein Svay Chrum village forever”. Cabinet members responded by sending a short letter tomembers of the Preah Vihear provincial government, asking them to “examine the case of Svay

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Preah Vihear villagers make case

Written by Phak SeanglyFriday, 13 January 2012 12:03

Chrum villagers”.

Yesterday, villagers submitted another letter to the Prime Minister’s cabinet reiterating their pleafor intervention.

“Some soldiers seized valuable materials belonging to villagers.... [They also] removed the SvayChrum pagoda gate along with the foundation in order to bury the evidence. This is a brutal actand an abuse of the rights of the weak,” the letter states.

After receiving the letter, cabinet member Kong Cham Roeun gave the villagers a letter thaturged them to settle with the Preah Vihear authorities and promised there would be a newdiscussion concerning their second letter.

Preah Vihear provincial governor Om Mara confirmed that local officials had received the letterand were “preparing a letter of explanation and will send it to the cabinet soon”.

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