Boeng Kak families sue – and sued by – government officials
Two-and-a-half weeks after excavators belonging to a CPP senator’s real estate firm demolished the homes of eight families fighting eviction from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake community, those families and the government officials charged with evicting them have taken their battle to court. A pair of excavators belonging to Senator Lao Meng Khin’s Shukaku Inc tore down the homes on September 16 amid a clash between residents and riot police. One protester was beaten unconscious by police. Those eight families, left out of a government plan to provide some 800 Boeng Kak households with land titles, filed a lawsuit with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday morning holding the firm, a private contractor and three government officials responsible for the destruction of their homes. At the same time, court officials were busy summoning five Boeng Kak lake families who are being sued for allegedly “insulting” and “intimidating” Srah Chak commune chief Chhay Thirith…
