UPDATE (Cambodia): A human rights investigator and 5 villagers are being accused of incitement to create a secession area

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that the Sihanoukville governor, Say Hak, lodged a file complaint against Mr. Chhim Savuth, a human rights investigator for Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) based in Sihanoukville for attempting to create a secession area in Mitapheap district in order to oppose the authorities. The Sihanoukville governor has also allegedly plotted to arrest 5 other men who were accused of complicity to create the secession area under Chhim Savuth’s instructions. The AHRC previously reported that 107 families were evicted from their 17-hectares of land in Mitapheap district, Sihanoukville by armed police and security personnel on 20 April 2007. The families have lived on that land since 1985 and are entitled to land ownership according to Cambodia Land Law 2001. The AHRC has also previously reported that on 19 January 2007 Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak issued a notice numbered 0026 to evict those families (See further: UP-010-2007). During the eviction, 13 people were reportedly arrested and four people were beaten up by the security forces. It is alleged that the families were evicted in order to give the land to Tycoon Senator, Sy Kong Triv. The AHRC’s previously reported that 229 families were evicted based on the order of the Sihanoukville Governor on 17 December 2006 from their land in in village No.1, commune No.1, Mittapheap district, Sihanoukville. Senator Sy Kong Triv is involved in this case, too (UA-003-2007).

According the information we have received, the Sihanoukville authority has lodged a file complaint against Chhim Savuth, an investigator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) based in Sihanoukville for inciting 107 families in Mitapheap district to create a secession area in order to oppose the authorities. Now Chhim Savuth is very scared for his own safety and security. He is not able to go back to work in his office in Sihanoukville, and he has to avoid staying with his family in order to hide himself from the authorities. He is now in hiding. Further information reported that Chhim Savuth, only helped the villagers outline a request for government official’s recognition of the people’s community in the days leading up to the eviction, in a bid to ensure the residents’ rights to remain on the land.

We have also informed that the Sihanoukville governor Say Hak has also allegedly plotted to arrest 5 other men who were accused of mobilizing the villagers to create a secession area with Mr. Chhim Savuth, they are now living in very poor conditions away from their families. The governor is trying to arrest 5 other villagers while 30-40 other villagers are hiding in the forest. Still others have escaped to another province for their security. According to Mr. I Van who is now hiding from the Sihanoukville authorities his life is very difficult now that he is living away from his family, he does not know whether his family has enough food or their living conditions. Furthermore, his wife has also seriously injured, her hands and her legs are swollen after being beaten up by the police during the land eviction on 20 April 2007.

According to a local human rights investigator for ADHOC based in Sihanoukville Mr. Chan Chomreun, those 107 families are now living in tents sponsored by non-governmental organizations along National Road 4. These evicted people do not even have a change of clothing; they have no mosquito nets, plates, pots, blankets, pillows, water supply or food supply. Their children do not have time to go to school; some of the small children and old people have diarrheas. They do not have water to shower; and they cry for lack of food. Some of the pregnant women are sick from the poor living conditions, and many women have lost their husbands due to the fact that they have escaped into the forest to avoid arrest. Those families are now living in very bad conditions and during the heavy rainy season that they do not have enough shelters. Some of the families who do not have tents live under the shade of the trees with their children. Some families have their meals using lotus leave as plates or plastic bag because their kitchen supplies were destroyed during the brutal eviction.

BACKGROUND OF INFORMATION
On Aril 2007100 armed security forces led by Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak, Deputy Governor Prak Sihara, Prosecutor Meas Sopheak, police commissioner, military police commander, soldier commander came to the residential area of 107 families in Sangkat Number 4, Metapheap district, Sihanoukville in the pretext of carrying out a search for illegal weapons in the houses of the families on 20 April 2007. It is alleged that Prosecutor Meas Sopheak misused his authority to issue a search warrant based on a false allegation of possessing illegal weapons against the families. As soon as they arrived in the area, the armed police, military police and military personnel with rifles and electric batons began to illegally evict the families and demolish the houses, instead of checking illegal weapons as the search warrant originally declared. It is reported that more than 100 houses of the families, along with their properties and crops, were demolished by tractors and bulldozers. All properties, including motorbikes, bicycles, generators, TVs, VCRs, DVDs, clothes, kitchen supplies, and domestic animals, were seized and destroyed. In the eviction the Sihanoukville authorities allegedly beat up and tortured several villagers.

We have also learned on 2 May 2007, Sihanoukville court freed a 16-year-old boy named Ra Vy among the 13 men who were arrested on 20 April 2007 because he is a minor and he was not involved in the confrontation with the authorities during the eviction.

The Sihanouville governor’s actions also clearly disregarded Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2006 announcement proclaiming all land evictions should be done without violence or brutal actions. The governor’s accusation against the human right investigator of CCHR and some other villagers of creating a secession area is an attempt to shift the focus to Mr. Chhim Savuth and some other villagers in order to get less attention from the people and the NGOs over its brutal land eviction last month.

It should also be noted that the authorities frequently charge or accuse people without legal basis in order to stop or to intimidate them from practicing freedom of expression and liberty. Such accusation goes against the spirit of the Cambodian Constitution which guarantees the rights of the people, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which Cambodia is a state party. Furthermore, in this case, the Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak has no legal basis to accuse Mr. Chhim Savuth, the human rights activist, of incitement.

According to Article 253 of the Cambodian Land Law 2001, any person who uses violence against a possessor in good faith of an immovable property, whether or not his title has been established or is disputed, shall be fined from 1,500,000 Riel (USD 385) to 25,000,000 Riel (USD 6,420) and/or imprisoned from six (6) months to two (2) years, irrespective of the penalty for violence against a person. If the violence was ordered by a person other than a perpetrator, who did not personally participate in the commission of such violence, he shall be subject to the same penalties as the perpetrator of the violence.

We urge the Cambodian authority to immediately conduct an investigation into this case and bring all the responsible officials including the Sihanoukville Prosecutor Meas Sopheak before court. We also urge the Cambodian authority to conduct thorough investigation into the responsibility of the Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak for illegally mobilizing the police officers and soldiers to carry out a violent eviction and bring him before court for his atrocity behavior and activity against the innocent.

The AHRC urges the Sihanoukville court to immediately free the 12 villagers who were detained to allow them to return to their families. There are no basic elements of guilt to accuse against these men or detain them after the authorities burned down, demolished their house and destroyed their properties.

The AHRC also urges the Cambodian government to seek for the appropriate compensation for the ownership of the land that 107 families. The AHRC further urges donor governments, UN agencies, international aid agencies and the international human rights community to work with the Cambodian government and courts to end this abuse of power and to establish a strong rule of law in Cambodia.

SUGESTED ACTION:
Please immediately write to the relevant authorities listed below demanding their immediate intervention into the brutal eviction of 107 families and the intimidation of accusing Mr. Chhim Savuth, a human rights investigator of incitement the villager to create a secession area. Please also urge them to inquire about the alleged illegal eviction and attack on the villagers led by the Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak, Sihanoukville Deputy Governor Prak Sihara and Prosecutor Meas Sopheak and the Sihanoukville armed forces.

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