Prisoners ‘utilised’ in violent eviction

Twenty convicts in Preah Sihanouk Provincial Prison were employed by military and local authorities to tear apart a nearby village on land slated for a second prison compound, villagers and rights groups alleged yesterday.

However, prison authorities denied that any incarcerated people were involved in the actual eviction of villagers, despite multiple rights groups attesting to the prisoners’ participation.  The Cambodian Center for Human Rights said yesterday that an armed force of military police, along with 20 prisoners, descended on Village 16 in Sihanoukville town late last month and tore apart the homes and crops of about 16 families living in the area. ...

 Chan Chamroeun, provincial investigator for Adhoc, said that some prisoners were used in the dismantlement, but did not know exactly how many. ...

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062557001/National-news/prisoners-in-eviction.html