Verdict in 15-Year-Long Land Dispute Delayed
About 200 villagers from Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district who are involved in a long-running land dispute with two businessmen gathered outside the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, waiting to hear the verdict in their case—which was ultimately delayed. The villagers are representatives of 320 families in Stung Meanchey commune that have been in dispute with Ta Vorak Satha and Ta Ratha Phirum, the father-and-son owners of Beta International Ltd., since 1998, when the Phnom Penh Municipal Court awarded more than 17 hectares of disputed land to the firm. In the courtroom Tuesday, Neang Hay, a lawyer representing the two men, said that his clients legally bought the land in 1991 from 39 families living there, and had planned to construct a horseracing track but have been unable to do so since the families have refused to move. ... Since the 1998 municipal court verdict, the case has been to the Appeal Court, which in 2000 ruled in the company’s favor, and to the Supreme Court in 2011, which sent it back to the Appeal Court.
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/verdict-in-15-year-long-land-dispute-delayed-41070/
