Describing a 5,000-hectare land dispute between Koh Kong villagers and a sugar company owned by CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat as “a complicated case,” Koh Kong Provincial Court has decided to try it before a three-judge panel, a lawyer for the villagers said yesterday.
“We received a copy of the court order that stated that because the case is so complicated, it will be heard before a three-judge panel,” said Ny Sorphonneary, an attorney at the Community Legal Education Center, after meeting with Judge Heng Kesarou at the courthouse on Wednesday.
The court order came after a June 9 decision to proceed with 30 days of extrajudicial negotiations, which required the 252 families involved in the dispute to submit documents as proof of land ownership, Ms Sorphonneary said.
Although lawyers for the villagers submitted their evidence to the court on time, the deadline for an out-of-court settlement passed with no response from the company, she added.
“Because the sugar company did not agree to settle the case out of court, we met with the judge on Wednesday to demand that they proceed with the villagers’ complaint against the firm,” Ms Sorphonneary said.
Judge Heng Kesarou confirmed that a three-judge panel would now be assigned to the case.
Touch Chhay, an attorney for the senator’s sugar company, said yesterday that he had sent the villagers’ documents to his client for review a week ago but had not yet received a response.
“I have been waiting for the company’s decision,” he said.
The long-running land dispute began in 2006, when about 449 families in Chi Kor Loeu commune lost 5,000 hectares of farmland to Mr Yong Phat’s company, which claimed the contested land as part of a 20,000-hectare economic land concession granted to him by the government.
About half of the families reportedly accepted small amounts of compensation in 2006, while the remaining 252 families continued their court battle against the company.
Mr Yong Phat was referred to in a 2007 US Embassy cable recently released by WikiLeaks as “the King of Koh Kong.”
