Residents of a Kompong Speu province village where hundreds of villagers kidnapped their commune chief over a land dispute in May turned up outside the National Assembly on Tuesday to assert their right to a disputed 0.8-hectare rice paddy plot.
The 71 villagers from Baset district left their homes at 1 am on Friday and walked through jungles and over mountains in order to avoid authorities who they feared would tell them to return home, they said.
After staying at a pagoda in Phnom Penh since Friday, the villagers went to the Assembly on Tuesday to appeal to Prime Minister Hun Sen, their provincial governor, parliamentarians and human rights workers.
“It was very difficult to get here. We were walking in the jungle…. We tried to travel at night because we knew we would be cracked down on if we were traveling on the road or in day time,” said villager Pok Duy, 29.
“Please Samdech Hun Sen, help find justice for people and help [us] get back one hectare of land confiscated by the commune chief,” read one of the villagers’ placards.
“Innocent people are jailed,” another of the villagers’ posters said.
Hundreds of Trapeang Kak commune villagers held their commune chief, Meas Samon, hostage from May 4 to May 5 because of the 0.8 hectares which both parties claim is rightfully theirs.
After police rescued Meas Samon, more than 100 men from the village fled to a nearby range of hills to avoid arrest.
Two of the villagers are currently detained over the land dispute, one for allegedly cutting a police officer with an ax during the rescue of Meas Samon, and the other for allegedly illegally occupying the land.
Meas Samon could not be contacted Tuesday.
“The land belongs to the villagers,” said Doung Nom, one of the villagers outside the National Assembly. “We want this piece of rice paddy to benefit the poor people.”
Though the Assembly is currently on vacation, a staffer said that the villagers delivered a complaint to the human rights and complaints’ reception committee.
