Thursday, August 19, 2010

Land disputes lead to jailing

Wednesday, 18 August 2010
By May Titthara and Will Baxter
The Phnom Penh Post

A TOTAL of 145 people are being detained in prisons across the country after their arrests in connection with land disputes since 2008, according to statistics released yesterday by a local rights group.

“In cases related to land disputes, the courts always make up unlawful, fake charges so they can accuse or arrest villagers without any evidence,” said Ouch Leng, a land programme officer for the local rights group Adhoc, which compiled the statistics.

“When villagers file a complaint against a company that is illegally clearing their land, there is no response from the court, but when a private company or influential official files a complaint, the court will arrest villagers and send them to prison,” he added.
Please click here to read more...

No comments: