More than 200 villagers protested outside Battambang provincial office this week, demanding land that they claim is theirs and urging the authorities to ensure they are able to vote in April’s commune elections, villagers and rights workers said.
The villagers, who are embroiled in a long-running and bitter land dispute with RCAF soldiers over 10,000 hectares in Bavel district, say officials will not register them to vote because the land they live on is in dispute.
During their demonstration on Tuesday, villagers held up photos of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany, said Yan Yen, a 45-year-old protester. “We need the right to vote in the commune election. We want to vote because we want to choose our leaders in [Ampil Pram Doeum] commune,” she said by telephone.
Villagers also asked the authorities to release their fellow villager Chhoeun Ny, who was sentenced to one year in prison in February over the land dispute.
Provincial Deputy Governor Sieng Suthang said he told the villagers to go home. Officials will visit the villagers next month to try to resolve the dispute, but are too busy to deal with the problem now because they are campaigning for the election, he said.
Sieng Suthang also said that Chhoeun Ny’s release was a difficult issue since he has already been sentenced by the provincial court. But Chhoeun Ny is welcome to appeal the decision, he said.
Yin Mengly, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, said police chased the protesters away from the provincial office.
“Police should not consider demonstrators as their enemy and as criminals,” he said, adding that villagers came to the office seeking help. The villagers’ chances of getting registered to vote appear bleak, Yin Mengly said.
“I think that only Prime Minister Hun Sen can decide whether they can vote or not because the [election] is so close,” he said.