"Court charges villagers over land dispute with Chinese firm", 14 June 2019

The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has placed more than 10 ethnic Kuoy villagers and an NGO official under court supervision on charges of collusion to detain and confine people illegally over a dispute with a Chinese-owned company.

Investigating Judge Chien Sros issued a letter informing the accused of the wrap-up of an investigation ...

The defendants, who had not received the letter until …, have called on the court to drop all charges against them, citing injustice and an abuse of their rights. The letters said Ponlok Khmer NGO officials Poek Sophorn and Lout Saing are placed under court supervision on charges of collusion in illegal detention and confinement. The letter said Pang Sev, Phon Rum, Phou Phen, Norm Thol, Hor Theany, They Hoeun, Yun Sorn, Sral Sokhy and their accomplices are also under court supervision, but on charges of illegal detention and confinement under Article 253 of the Criminal Code…

The case stemmed from a land dispute between the Chinese firm, Lan Feng, and the ethnic Kuoy community who accused the company of encroaching on their ancestral land after it was granted an economic land concession by the government in 2011 for rubber, acacia and sugarcane plantation…

Toch Kum, an older sister of ethnic Kuoy defendant Sral Sokhy, told … that the charges against her brother and other ethnic Kuoy villagers were unfair. She claimed the community rightfully own the land and had cultivated it for years…

Poek Sophorn, the Ponlok Khmer official who was charged along with the villagers, told … that he was surprised the court had just wrapped up its investigation…