Post-Election Evictions, Violence Ensue

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
06 August 2008

Khmer audio aired 06 August 2008 (1.05 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 06 August 2008 (1.05 MB) - Listen (MP3)

Less than two weeks after the conclusion of national elections, human rights workers and political parties are reporting new land displacement and continued threats and violence against activists.

Stung Treng residents and rights groups said only four days after the election, about 40 soldiers, many of them armed, began trying to evict 19 families from their homes on more than 2 hectares of land in Steng Treng provincial town, to be relocated in rural areas.

Residents say the dispute, with soldiers from Military Region 1, began in July 2005, but attempts to have it settled with the Ministry of Defense failed.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Party said in statement Wednesday activists had been mistreated following the election. One activist was beaten unconscious, and others were threatened with eviction from their villages following last month's national election, the party said.

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay said Wednesday an SRP Kampong Chhnang candidate, Khy Vandeth, received a death threat and local Cambodian People's Party authorities had threatened not to resolve problems for SRP supporters in the wake of the election.