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No End in Sight for 12-year-long Land Dispute
Four indigenous Tampoun villagers from Pa’oh village were questioned in Ratanakkiri provincial court again on Thursday, as criminal investigations continue regarding 11 suspects in a land dispute that has now lasted over a decade. The charges this time are encroachment. Kwai Lal, Kwah Thieuv, Kwah Chieuv, Rocham Phen, and seven others from Pa’oh face up to two years in prison if they are convicted of trespassing on land in Bar Kaev district’s Keh Chong that they maintain is theirs. After nine years of being called to court repeatedly, the men say they are exhausted, and still afraid of sudden arrest each time they make the fifty-kilometer journey to Ban Lung. But, with fields of rubber surrounding all but one side of their village, they say they have no choice but to protect what they have left.
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Pheap denies link to timber at Mondulkiri ELC
As a national crackdown on illegal logging rumbles on, Try Pheap, Cambodia’s most prominent timber tycoon, issued a public denial of reports that he was linked to an economic land concession (ELC) where authorities found hundreds of cubic metres of potentially illegal timber. The denial comes amidst the crackdown’s first reported arrests and reports that high-value timber is being buried in pits to circumvent inspection.
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Bavet City SEZ Workers to be Released on Bail
The four garment workers arrested late last year alongside seven others for allegedly damaging factory property during protests in Bavet City will be released on bail soon, according to Svay Rieng provincial officials. Chieng Am, Svay Rieng provincial governor, told Khmer Times yesterday that the court is proceeding in discussions with the relevant officials and he expects that the four workers will be released soon. He denied further comment.
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Timber Tycoon Back in Spotlight
Tycoon Try Pheap is denying any link to a Chinese-owned company under investigation for illegal logging in the northeast by the committee set up by Prime Minister Hun Sen in a mid-January to crack down on forest crimes. The tycoon – who has faced frequent allegations that his Try Pheap Group has been involved in illegal logging – also called on the National Anti-deforestation Committee to take legal action against any company committing forest crimes under the name of his group.
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Students debate forest protection measures
A group of university students in Phnom Penh yesterday organised a debate on how to protect Prey Lang, with the winners standing to receive a trip to the critical forest preserve. The “Prey Lang Forum”, held at Zaman University in Phnom Penh, sought to raise awareness of the conservation issues facing the forest.
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HRW Says PM’s Bodyguards Beat Lawmakers
In a report released last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) came to the predictable—and mostly well-supported—conclusion that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government was failing in its duty to protect its people. In a statement accompanying the World Report 2016, titled “Cambodia: New Waves of Repression,” which summarized the government’s most egregious rights abuses, the group made one claim that had previously existed only as rumor and speculation.
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Contested Land Shooting Suspect at Large
A manhunt is underway for the suspected killer of a 20-year-old Ouk Khun Agro-Industrial Company employee, according to police. The victim was shot to death at 8 pm on Wednesday night. His company has been embroiled in a land dispute with Kampong Speu’s Treng Trayoeung commune residents since 2011. Phnom Srouch district police chief Say Bunthan said that although his officers were investigating the case, so far their efforts have left them clueless.
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Company denies illegal logging allegations
A company owned by a tycoon accused of logging vast stretches of forest in Virachey National Park yesterday fired back at its detractors, claiming that it paid the state more than $1 million in taxes and was cleared by a recent anti-illegal logging task force. In June of last year, 23 opposition lawmakers accused tycoons An Mardy and Try Pheap of illegally cutting timber in the park following a visit there. Prime Minister Hun Sen defended the tycoons in a response in November, claiming they legally obtained and sold the timber.
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Labor Ministry to Probe Factory that Fleeced Workers
The Ministry of Labor will investigate the case of more than 500 garment workers from Muse Garment (Cambodia) Factory Ltd. in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district who have been protesting for nearly three weeks demanding their employer pay them back-wages as well as provide other benefits that they say they have yet to receive. Thong Soeun, administrative manager for Khmer Union Federation of Workers Spirit, said that the owners fled the factory without informing the workers on January 11.
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Couple Accused of Forced Labor Stand Trial in Phnom Penh, 19 Children Rescued
A husband and wife were tried yesterday over allegations that between 2014 and 2015, they hired 19 children ages 7 to 17 to do hard, physical, nighttime labor which harmed the children’s physical health. Nhoeung Saroeun, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge, said that Chea Sady, 28, and his wife, Then Vanthai, 30, have been charged with “Subjecting a minor to working conditions harmful to children’s health and physical development” under article 339 of the penal code. If found guilty, the pair will spend two to five years in prison.
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Judiciary to get 40-50% salary bump
Public judicial officials are set to receive salary boosts following a bi-annual meeting, Justice Ministry spokesman Chhin Malin said yesterday. Currently, he said, the “average is about a $300 [per month] salary for prosecutors and judges . . . It will increase by between 40 to 50 per cent, coupled with some other bonuses and travel and health [allowances] to make them to live in dignity.”
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Workers from shuttered garment factory demand wages
More than 500 garment workers from a shuttered garment factory in the capital’s Dangkor district are demanding their salaries after the firm’s owner ran away. According to its website, the Chinese-owned Muse Garment (Cambodia) Factory Limited produced pants and shorts exclusively for the European market.
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Foreigner arrested over unpaid wages in Kratie
A 50-year-old man has been detained since Wednesday for allegedly not paying his workers some $30,000 in wages over two years at a sugar cane plantation in Kratie’s Sambor district, police said yesterday. “The company promised to pay on this or that day, but did not, so they [the workers] filed the complaint to the court,” said Kun Sophaon, director of the provincial police’s minor crimes office, adding that throughout the two years, the eight plaintiffs – one of them the company’s chief of staff – took out bank loans to pay lower-level workers’ wages, on the promise the company would eventually pay up.
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Lor Peang Residents Refuse Compensation for ‘Their Land’
Around 50 people representing 83 households from Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang yesterday refused concessions offered to them during a meeting with the National Assembly’s Commission on Human Rights, Complaints, and Investigation. The community has been embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the KDC, a copmpany owned by Chea Kheng, wife of the Minister of Mines and Energy.
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Kampong Chhnang land dispute resolution hits snag
The latest attempt to resolve the now nine-year land dispute between KDC International and the residents of Kampong Chhnang province’s Lorpeang village appears to have stumbled at the first hurdle after villagers and company representatives failed to reach an agreement at a parliament-mediated meeting yesterday. The National Assembly’s human rights commission invited 16 of the 43 families at loggerheads with KDC to the capital on Thursday. Once there, each family was offered compensation packages between 1.5 and 6 million riel (about $375 to $1,500) by the development firm.
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Maltey prosecutor pleads for reduced sentence
The man charged with prosecuting former Phnom Penh Municipal Court president Ang Maltey yesterday spent the lion’s share of his speaking time lobbying the court to reduce the disgraced judge’s embezzlement charge to a lesser offence, citing his years of loyal service to Cambodia. The request by Kandal provincial deputy prosecutor Ek Sun Reaskmey came during the first and only day of Maltey’s trial at Kandal Provincial Court, which is examining accusations he granted bail to police officer-turned-drug trafficker Thav Thavy in exchange for an Audi SUV, which he then allegedly gave to his son.
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Capitol bus drivers suspend protests
Former Capitol Bus Company drivers who have been protesting in front of the company’s office since last month decided yesterday to halt demonstrations temporarily after city hall intervened in the dispute. Following a meeting with Capitol and unions brokered by Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Khoung Sreng on Tuesday, driver representative Hin Moeun said he had agreed to call off protests while the drivers wait for the company to set a date for negotiations.
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Report that New ELCs Were Granted to Logging Barons ‘False’
In an open letter to the Ministry of Environment, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) asked yesterday for confirmation of a January 19 report in the Cambodia Daily that said new economic land concessions (ELCs) had been given to two tycoons despite a ban on granting ELCs. The January 19 report “Try Pheap Gets New ELC Amid Freeze, Governor Says” quoted Mondulkiri governor Eng Bunheang as saying that Try Pheap and Lim Bunna, two logging magnates, would be given ELCs in a wildlife sanctuary, after the land had been taken back from other companies that had violated their ELC contracts.
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Rights Group Blasts Government Over Events in 2015
Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the most strident critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, again slammed the government on Wednesday for its failure to uphold human rights in Cambodia, with the release of its World Report 2016. In a country-specific statement accompanying the report, titled “Cambodia: New Waves of Repression,” the organization said the CPP government had used state institutions to suppress the political opposition, violated various international obligations and “launched a vilification campaign against rights groups.”
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More timber burns in Mondulkiri as NGO calls for answers
Timber stockpiles in two former Mondulkiri economic land concessions went up in flames over the past few days, with authorities blaming forest fires, an explanation one observer characterised as an “excuse”. The ELCs had their licences withdrawn in 2014 for breaching their operating conditions. One formerly belonged to Kasekam Khmer Angkor Agriculture and the other, to Investment & Development Dai Nam (Cambodia). Since then, tycoons Try Pheap and Lim Bunna have been granted the right to collect wood at the two sites, according to the Ministry of Environment.
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