Courts systematically used to ‘threaten’ villagers, NGOs say
The government failed to evaluate social and environmental impacts before granting economic land concessions to private companies, while officials and company staff used the courts to intimidate residents during land disputes, representatives of NGOs said at a conference in the capital yesterday. “The courts are not independent, so . . . [companies] use the courts as a tool for taking over villagers’ land and charging villagers with destroying public property or using violence,” Seng Sokheng, a representative from the NGO network Community Peace Building Network, told the National Advocacy conference…
