"Kampong Speu villagers seek intervention in land dispute", 15 September 2019

Villagers from the Domrey Jak Tlork community in Kraing Deivay commune in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Sruoch district … urged the authorities to take back 64ha from a private company they said had illegally grabbed their land.

Community leader Suong Van said the villagers had requested authorities keep the land for collective use…

Van claimed the 1,452ha of land had been managed by 385 families in Dok Por and Kraing Kor villages, and it had been officially designated a protected area by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ...

… Van said he suspected that the firm had colluded with the Kraing Deivay commune authorities in acquiring the land, a claim the commune chief rejected…

“When we protested, they stopped clearing the land, but after the protest, they resumed clearing. We want the land back,” he said.

A commune council member who asked not to be named echoed Van’s claims.

“I wonder why the authorities seem to be fearful [of the company]. I don’t know about the commune chief, but as a commune council member, I need to lead the protests demanding the land back. I need to protect the land,” he said.

Kraing Deivay commune chief Mann Men denied the authorities had colluded to sell the community land. He claimed the land that had been cleared was not part of the community land.

… So Kim Seang, the Forestry Administration chief for Phnom Sruoch and Baset districts, said he had visited the area … to survey the land with GPS devices and found that it was not part of the community…