Mother’s fight to end with a homecoming Written by Sen David Monday, 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 her daughter’s employer, Champa Manpower Company, had agreed to terminate her two-year contract and pay for her flight home. Chea Si Yan, 58, said her daughter, Sanh Makara, 31, from Pursat, had been taken to the Cambodian 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 the employment agency to meet face to face in the embassy to find justice and to prevent this from happening to another maid,” she said. The concerned mother travelled from Pursat to Phnom Penh last Friday to file a complaint with the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking department. However, Champa Manpower had called 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 by giving her a plane ticket and terminating her contract.” Chea Si Yan filed a complaint with ADHOC in November, which called for intervention to help her daughter who was being fed sub-standard meals and being locked inside her employer’s house. Her complaint also voiced concerns for the safety of her 30-year-old goddaughter, Moa Chamroune, 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 in Malaysia had beaten her because they were unhappy with her performance, Chea Si Yan said last Tuesday. “Her last employer ordered her to cook a cake, but she did not understand – she is not good at English – so the employer was angry with her and sent her back to the agency. The agency then beat her until she needed to be taken to hospital.” Sanh Makara was now helping officials at the Cambodia Embassy in Malaysia to investigate her abuse claims, Chea Si Yan said. Lim Mony, deputy head of the women’s section at ADHOC, said she was satisfied that Sanh Makara was safe. “Now that she is at the Cambodian Embassy, officials will help her find justice against the person who mistreated her,” she said. Chea Si Yan remained concerned for Moa Chamroune, who still could not be contacted, she said. 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 David Monday, 09 January 2012 12:01
the department would investigate the case.
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Preah Vihear landmine kills officer Written by Tep Nimol Monday, 09 January 2012 12:01
A landmine killed a deputy police chief who was patrolling in a forest at the Cambodia-Thailand border in Preah Vihear province on Friday, an official said yesterday. Leang Bunkheang, 48, deputy police chief for the protection of border 793, stationed near Daun Tom temple, died instantly when he triggered a “coconut-sized” mine with his hand while sitting down while on patrol with soldiers in Choam Ksan district, Chea Lay, police chief of the protection 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 Preah Vihear had been there more than 30 years and he urged police, soldiers and residents along the border to be careful. Since 1979, 64,000 people have been either killed or maimed by unexploded ordnance in Cambodia, he said.
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Tuol Kork families say thumbprints ill-gotten Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya Monday, 09 January 2012 12:01
Nearly 20 families living in the capital’s Tuol Kork district yesterday accused local authorities of misleading some residents into thumbprinting documents agreeing to have their homes dismantled. Ma Lin, a 56-year-old representative of 17 families living along street 347 in Boeung Kak I commune’s village 3, told the Post that officials had threatened to bulldoze their houses if they did 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 a document that included the names of her family members, which officials claimed was a demographic 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 roadside temporarily 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 authorities expanded 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 KasperAnsermet 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 coinvestigating 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-12metre 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 Kunthear Wednesday, 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 Kandal province by the Khmer Rouge to work as a waiter in the Royal Palace, but it was not until her master 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 physical evidence of hardship, she is stoic in remembering the fate the murderous Khmer Rouge regime chose for her in serving Democratic Kampuchea’s figureheads at the Royal Palace during their reign. “About two weeks after I was taken from Takeo to the Royal Palace, [then-King Norodom Sihanouk] talked to me and asked me where I came from, and he also asked me whether I knew 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 visit to the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, the first day of hearings for 2012, Hem Rith said she barely recognised the Royal Palace’s other famous resident. “I know and used to talk to [ex-Democratic Kampuchea president] Khieu Samphan when I worked in the Royal Palace,” Hem Rith recalled.
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Audience with king still a vivid memory Written by Mom Kunthear Wednesday, 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 fight or 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 the people 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, including a large percentage of victims and civil parties.
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Borei Keila kids cry corruption Written by Khouth Sophakchakrya Wednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01
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Families plead for return of daughters from Malaysia Written by Sen David Wednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01
The relatives of five maids working in Malaysia file complaints on Monday with the Kampong Chhnang office of the NGO Adhoc. Photo Supplied Two Cambodian women working as maids in Malaysia have been missing for two years, while another three are being prevented from returning home, despite having finished their contracts, their concerned families said yesterday. Parents and relatives of the five maids filed complaints on Monday with the Kampong Chhnang provincial office of human rights group Adhoc, which has promised to forward the complaints to the Ministry of Interior. The maids’ families, who live in Por commune’s Kampong Leng district, said the women were employed 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 their daughters signed on. He had expected his daughter to send money back to her family; however, she had not contacted them at all. “I do not know if she is safe. We worry that she is working so far away from us. She has not called 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 David Wednesday, 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 a salary – 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 the complaints to the Ministry of Interior. “The companies are ignoring these families and refusing to offer solutions. The company does not have the right to control these women,” he said. Chan Na, a Human Power spokeswoman, disputed that Von Kolab was being held against her will 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 to be released from her contract after allegations she was being beaten and tortured while working as 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 Sokheng Wednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01
The failure of Cambodian authorities to officially appoint international reserve co-investigating judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to his position at the Khmer Rouge tribunal is hampering progress 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 called for the Supreme Council of Magistracy’s immediate appointment of Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to the position of full co-invesigating judge. “Contrary to previous practice, the Cambodian government has continued to stall on providing formal approval, effectively leaving the judicial investigations in a state of limbo,” OSJI said in the statement. Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, municipal court president Chiv Keng and Appeal Court prosecutor Uk Savuth, who are all members of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, could not be reached for comment. OSJI also urged the UN and the court’s donors to “publicly insist” on the immediate endorsement 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 had disagreed with him about the release of “important” information regarding cases 003 and 004, in a statement released by the court. Judge Bunleng has stated that Judge Kasper-Ansermet does not yet have the legal authority to take action regarding cases 003 and 004.
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Plaintiffs called in KDC case Written by Chhay Channyda Wednesday, 11 January 2012 12:01
Villagers involved in a land dispute with the KDC International company at their home in Lor Peang village, in Kampong Chhnang province, in September last year. Derek Stout Eight residents of a village of Kampong Chhnang province’s Kompong Tralach district have been summonsed to the provincial court to answer questions about their civil suit against a company they accuse of grabbing 145 hectares of land. Four of the five judges hearing the complaints, however, told villagers they had been unable to summons the owner of the company because they did not know her address, or that of her company, KDC International, Pheng Rom, a representative of the families, told the Post yesterday. Sam Chankea, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, who was convicted of defamation early last year for comments made to reporters about the company, also said that the judges told villagers they could not find its address, so they were unable to summons a representative of 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-ranking member of the Cambodian Red Cross, which is run by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany. Rights groups have accused the company of using the courts to harass, intimidate, silence and imprison community leaders. Five villagers will be questioned tomorrow and three others will be questioned 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 Channyda Wednesday, 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 to destroy evidence villagers could use to prove ownership, referring to fruit trees as well as the rice-paddy dykes farmers had used to demarcate family plots. In early 2008, villagers were driven from land they had farmed by armed police. Three community leaders have been jailed since 2007 and a fourth has fled to Thailand where she is seeking refugee status from the UNHCR, rights groups say. Pheng Rom said the five judges had been assigned to hear the complaints, filed in late 2010 by 22 families, over a dispute that dates back to 2002 when KDC claimed land more than 100 families said they had been farming since 1982. Meanwhile, 100 villagers who said they had lost faith in the court system gathered on Monday at a spiritual hill near the village to curse those involved in aiding the alleged land grab, calling for 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 sides have,” 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 Sokheng Wednesday, 11 January 2012 12:02
Nuon Chea (left), aka ‘Brother Number Two’, attends a hearing at the Extraordinary Chambers in 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 criticised remarks allegedly made by Prime Minister Hun Sen about their client, during the first day of evidence hearings this year at the United Nations-backed tribunal. Co-defence counsel for Nuon Chea Michiel Pestman said in court that the alleged remarks by Hun Sen, quoted by a journalist at a press conference in Vietnam last week, referred to Nuon Chea 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 Chea claimed 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 “a killer 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 it was “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, declined to comment on the premier’s alleged comments and said that “legally speaking” Nuon Chea was innocent until proven guilty. Nuon Chea is facing trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The first “mini-trial” of the court’s second case focuses on the forced movement of the population from urban centres.
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Nuon Chea team targets PM Written by Mary Kozlovski with additional reporting by Vong Sokheng Wednesday, 11 January 2012 12:02
Nuon Chea yesterday responded to questioning from the prosecution about the party’s activities during the pre-1975 period, during which he questioned the authenticity of certain documents presented to him in court. Civil parties Romam Yun, 70, and Klan Fit also continued their testimony yesterday. Under questioning from Trial Chamber Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne, Romam Yun said that those who worked “at the commune level” reported to “Angkar” and that he was reprimanded because his community was not able to produce more crops. Romam Yun said that people did not have enough food and “some people were hanging themselves because they could not really stand the situation”. Klan Fit, who previously testified to joining the revolutionary movement in the 1960s, testified yesterday 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 people were 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 to officially appoint international Reserve Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to the full position at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal. Kasper-Ansermet, a Swiss national, was nominated by the UN to replace former international co-Investigating judge Siegfried Blunk, who resigned abruptly in October. Martin Nesirky, spokesman for the UN office of the secretary-general, said via email yesterday the UN had “made every effort” to secure Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment, including several discussions with Cambodian officials. “The United Nations is concerned that, more than three months after the resignation of the international Co-Investigating Judge, the Supreme Council of the Magistracy has not appointed the reserve international Co-Investigating Judge to replace him,” Nesirky said. He added that, according to the agreement that established the tribunal, Cambodia was obliged to 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 unsure when the Supreme Council of Magistracy would call a meeting about Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment. Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana and Appeal Court prosecutor Uk Savuth, both Supreme Council of Magistracy members, could not reached. Since his arrival in Cambodia, Kasper-Ansermet has sparred with National Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng. In a statement released by the court this week, he said he regretted Bunleng’s disagreement with 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 with respect to the case files. Clair Duffy, a monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative, said yesterday that while the UN’s engagement with the government should continue, the broader issue was the government overstepping 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 rubber stamp to Kasper-Ansermet’s appointment or by its administrators dismantling the [Office of the Co-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 Kozlovski Thursday, 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 defence teams that he had joined the revolutionary movement in the early 1960s because he was “afraid of 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 Two Nuon Chea, Son Arun, about his previous testimony that he had been forced to join the movement, 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 regime leader 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 civil party described as “very quiet”. “I want to tell the court that everything I did, I did on orders by those senior people,” Klan Fit said in court. National co-defence counsel for Ieng Sary, Ang Udom, pressed Klan Fit about previous statements that he had been “forced” to join the movement.
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KRT hears of revolution by fear Written by Mary Kozlovski Thursday, 12 January 2012 12:04
Klan Fit said that through “propaganda” he was convinced to join the revolution and that this was a “coercive measure”. While under questioning from the prosecution earlier yesterday about the party’s activities in the pre-1975 period, Nuon Chea testified that no single group of people was regarded “enemies of the party”. “We were trying to reduce enemies, increase friends,” the 85-year-old defendant said. “This is our slogan. “There were individuals who could have been regarded as the enemies of the party . . . those spies who leaked the information from within the party to the enemies so that the enemies could attack the party,” Nuon Chea said. Nuon Chea, along with co-accused Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan, have been charged with crimes 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 forced movement of the population from Phnom Penh and other urban centres in the early stages of the regime. Under questioning from international deputy co-prosecutor Dale Lysak, Nuon Chea said that some 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 good lifestyles 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 David Thursday, 12 January 2012 12:03
Representatives of more that 200 Kouy ethnic minority families in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sen district filed complaints with rights group Adhoc yesterday claiming two separate companies have encroached on nearly 6,000 acres of their farmland. Oeun Art, a representative from the Saang commune, said the villagers decided to file a complaint after the companies began placing signs claiming ownership around the land last month. “We are deeply worried, because this is our farmland, which we have depended on for making a living as far back as my ancestors,” the representative said. Adhoc’s monitor in Preah Vihear, Lor Chan, identified the two companies in question as the Heng Noung Company and the Heang Rouy Company, and said authorities had “taken no action” despite the companies’ putting up signs for “many years”. Chey Sen governor Thoung Sokern said the companies were simply studying and measuring the 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 Leakhana Thursday, 12 January 2012 12:04
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Night in cell for Borei Keila kids Written by Khoun Leakhana Thursday, 12 January 2012 12:04
About 30 Borei Keila residents, including six children, were being detained in a small cell in Prey Speu Correctional Centre in the capital’s Chaom Chao commune last night after police forced them 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 homes lie in ruins – to the city centre to demand municipal governor Kep Chutema resolve their land dispute and release the eight residents detained during violent clashes in Borei Keila on January 3. Residents handed Hok Hour Lim, deputy director of the legal office of city hall, a petition at about 10:45am. Defying an order to go home because they “had no homes”, about 30 of the 45 residents protested throughout the afternoon – chanting slogans through megaphones, waving signs and spilling onto the road – before about 60 police forced them onto a bus about 4:30pm, which drove them to the correctional facility. Speaking by phone from Prey Speu late yesterday, detained villager Chum Ngan, 36, said all 30 people, 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 Borei Keila community are destroyed and the dispute is solved,” she said. Kiet Chhe, deputy administrative director of municipal hall, defended the response from the authorities, 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 children to go to school,” he said. “We don’t want their children in their protest because they have to go to school.” Khiev Malay, 38, said Daun Penh district police had pushed her to the ground and kicked her until 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’s sole 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 this may 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 Leakhana Thursday, 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 Seangly Thursday, 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 and blocked National Road 2 to protest against a company they claim is encroaching on their farmland. More than 100 residents from two villages in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district burned tyres on National Road No. 2 yesterday to protest against an earthmoving company’s diggings, which they said were causing their land to sink and collapse. Residents of Srey Snom and Kraing Svay villages, in Prek Kompoes commune, told the Post the Khutdyvathana company dug up and removed “truckloads” of dirt from an adjoining property each 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 affecting their 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 had reported 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,” she said. Resident So Mony said Khutdyvathana had been excavating on the site for three years, creating a deep hole.
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Protest blocks national road Written by Phak Seangly Thursday, 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 fields collapse,” 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 villagers and agreed to compensate some of them. “Only three or four families have been affected, not hundreds,” 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 Sophakchakrya Friday, 13 January 2012 12:03
.Hong Menea/ Phnom Penh Post Police and security guards force former Borei Keila residents, including children, onto a bus during a protest at the Phnom Penh City Hall. The protesters were sent to the Prey Speu Correctional Centre. A group of civil society groups yesterday condemned the “unlawful” detention of 30 women and children from Borei Keila and described the facility they are being held in – the Prey Speu Correctional Centre – as worse than Cambodia’s prisons and a place of rape, torture and beatings. The outcry came on a day when husbands and fathers of the detainees travelled to the correctional centre in Chaom Chao commune to plead for their loved ones’ release, the UN delivered food to the 30 detainees at the site, and it was revealed that seven of those detained in the protest were not even Borei Keila residents. Yann Thoeun, 39, the husband of Chan Sreypheap, who was detained on Wednesday, said officials at Prey Speu had refused to let the husbands and fathers of the women and children enter the centre. “We are allowed to see and face each other, but we are talking to each other between a metal door,” he said. The statement condemning the arrests is endorsed by 10 groups, including Housing Rights Task Force and LICADHO, and calls for the immediate release of Borei Keila residents and the closure of Prey Speu. “The arrests were executed by both police and Daun Penh district security guards. The security guards have no legal power to arrest anyone,” it reads.
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Borei Keila families kept apart Written by Khouth Sophakchakrya Friday, 13 January 2012 12:03
“It is not even accurate to call these arrests,” Yeng Virak, executive director of the Community Legal 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 documented widespread abuses, including illegal confinement, rapes, beatings, deaths and torture, at Prey Speu and other social affairs centres. “Conditions are in many cases worse than in Cambodia’s prisons, and the authorities provide no due process to detainees.” The Ministry of Social Affairs, which said on Wednesday that the Prey Speu Correctional Centre would provide protection and vocational training for the detainees, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Detainee Sak Mony, 63, told the Post by phone that authorities had forced her to thumbprint a document 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 husbands said — a fact confirmed by Koet Chhe, deputy director of administration at Phnom Penh Municipality. Borei Keila residents are still calling for the release of eight others arrested on January 3 during violent clashes as 200 homes were demolished. In 2003, development firm Phan Imex agreed to construct 10 buildings on two hectares of land for Borei Keila residents in return for development rights to a remaining 2.6 hectares. It has constructed only eight.
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Kampong Chhnang battle: Villagers tell their side of land dispute Written by Sen David Friday, 13 January 2012 12:03
Residents of Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang province finally got a chance yesterday to begin telling judges their side of a long-running land dispute with a company owned by the wife of 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 one riel,” 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 against KDC International, which they claim grabbed 145 hectares of land from residents of the village in 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 Kozlovski Friday, 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 a hearing earlier this week. An evidence hearing in Case 002 at the Khmer Rouge tribunal was cut short yesterday after co-accused former nominal head of state Khieu Samphan stated that he would exercise his right 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 would comment on documents before the chamber, including statements Khieu Samphan made to investigating judges in December 2007. One of the statements, read out by Judge Lavergne, detailed Khieu Samphan describing his first 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 his statement 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 the prosecution had presented the evidence against him. Khieu Samphan, along with co-accused former Khmer Rouge Brother Number Two Nuon Chea and former foreign affairs minister Ieng Sary, is facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
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Khieu Samphan stays silent Written by Mary Kozlovski Friday, 13 January 2012 12:04
During testimony yesterday, Nuon Chea said that “spies” had been appointed within the party to gather 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 had described in testimony last month. “Democratic Kampuchea was very cautious about its revolution and about the traitors who infiltrated into the Angkar,” Nuon Chea said. “Spies were appointed to gather information concerning those people, before the information was reported to the superiors who would thoroughly deliberate on the issue before they handed down the measures.” Nuon Chea said he “cannot accept the credibility” of copied documents presented by the prosecution and will not respond to questions based on them. The court will hear arguments on the admissibility of documents put before the chamber next week.
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KRT judge backflip Written by Bridget Di Certo Friday, 13 January 2012 12:04
Details of purported communications between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Prime Minister Hun Sen regarding the appointment of a new international judge at the Khmer Rouge tribunal were released and then abruptly retracted by the Press and Quick Reaction Unit yesterday afternoon. The Council of Ministers’ spokesbody, the Press and Quick Reaction Unit, issued a press statement yesterday, including details of letters between the premier and Ban. However, it was quickly replaced by a three-paragraph statement on the government’s position toward the endorsement of Swiss judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who will oversee controversial cases 003 and 004 with his Cambodian counterpart. “We wish not to reveal details about the communications,” Ek Tha of the PQRU told the Post after the sudden replacement of the lengthy and detailed press statement with one of just three paragraphs. “The first press release was done by another staffer – that information is not for the media, we wish to retract the first statement.” The “retracted” press statement detailed a November 3 response letter from Hun Sen to Ban’s October 18 request to him that the Supreme Council of Magistracy appoint Kasper-Ansermet as the new co-investigating judge. “Response from the Prime Minister to the Secretary-General suggesting prudent consideration in the light of ‘certain activities by Mr Laurent Kasper-Ansermet that have been brought to public attention’,” the press statement reads. However, this and the details of 11 other exchanges between the UN and the Royal Government of Cambodia regarding the endorsement of Kasper-Ansermet were replaced by the PQRU 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 of Kasper-Ansermet to assume the role of resigned German judge Siegfried Blunk. “In general, there have been communications and written letters [about the appointment],” Ek Tha said, without providing further detail. “The Prime Minister talks at the national level and represents the national interest of Cambodia on the international stage.” Deputy Prime Minister Sok An chairs the taskforce representing the Royal Government’s interests on the Khmer Rouge, and it would be a significant issue for Hun Sen himself to be involved in discussions, Ek Tha said. A sitdown between Hun Sen and Ban in 2010 made headlines after the premier reportedly informed 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 Certo Friday, 13 January 2012 12:04
Blunk, who was investigating cases 003 and 004, unexpectedly resigned from his post as international co-investigating judge more than three months ago, citing perceptions of government 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 any correspondence at all between Hun Sen and Ban. “The Council of Ministers has drafted some reports, a profile of [Kasper-Ansermet] to give to the Supreme Council of Magistracy for information in making their decision whether to approve him,” Phay Siphan told the Post yesterday. Yesterday’s government press statement also said that the Supreme Council of Magistracy was now “independently carrying its normal procedures and legal considerations before a decision would be made”. Clair Duffy, of the Open Society Justice Initiative, told the Post yesterday: “What concerns me the most about the press statement is the use of the word ‘decision’. “Under the agreement [between the government and the UN establishing the tribunal], the Supreme 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 stepped in as soon as [his predecessor] stepped down.” Information “retracted” by the PQRU yesterday indicated that Sok An had not forwarded the request for Kasper-Ansermet’s endorsement to the Supreme Council of Magistracy until after December 20, despite Blunk having resigned on October 10 and the UN officially nominating Kasper-Ansermet has his replacement the same day. Under the rules governing the tribunal, Kasper-Ansermet “must” assume the position of international co-investigating judge. The rules do not assign decision-making power to the Supreme Council of Magistracy on this endorsement. On Tuesday, the OSJI called for the UN and donor countries to “publicly insist” that Kasper-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 other high-ranking government officials, are effectively paralysed until an international investigating judge is appointed. Tribunal legal affairs spokesman Lars Olsen referred questions about correspondence to Ban’s office, which could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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Preah Vihear villagers make case Written by Phak Seangly Friday, 13 January 2012 12:03
Pha Lina/ Phnom Penh Post Villagers from Svay Chrum village in Preah Vihear province hold signs displaying their demolished 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 the second time in two weeks at the capital’s Wat Botum pagoda yesterday to urge Prime Minister Hun 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 Choam Ksan 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 being destroyed by authorities. A protestor at the pagoda, 32-year-old Khieu Bun Thoeun, said provincial security forces threatened Svay Chrum villagers when they attempted to return to their homes after they were dismantled. “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 left standing. I believed their threats,” he said. Villagers submitted a letter to the Prime Minister’s cabinet last Friday asking for the “right to live in Svay Chrum village forever”. Cabinet members responded by sending a short letter to members 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 Seangly Friday, 13 January 2012 12:03
Chrum villagers”. Yesterday, villagers submitted another letter to the Prime Minister’s cabinet reiterating their plea for intervention. “Some soldiers seized valuable materials belonging to villagers.... [They also] removed the Svay Chrum pagoda gate along with the foundation in order to bury the evidence. This is a brutal act and 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 that urged them to settle with the Preah Vihear authorities and promised there would be a new discussion concerning their second letter. Preah Vihear provincial governor Om Mara confirmed that local officials had received the letter and were “preparing a letter of explanation and will send it to the cabinet soon”.
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