‘Gangsters’ target rights worker

12 May 2014
The Phnom Penh Post
Civil society / Concessions / Human rights / Land / Public land lease / Social development
Cambodian Center for Human Rights / CCHR / Council of Ministers / Housing Rights Task Force / Khun Sea Import Export / Khun Sear

A land dispute in the capital’s Tuol Kork district escalated further on Friday when a group of “gangsters” allegedly threatened the life of a human rights worker taking video footage for a documentary on the conflict. “Six men pushed me off the site. One screamed: ‘I will not allow you to be free,’ and another swung an axe near my head. They were carrying axes, hammers and knives, and said they worked for the landowner,” said Vann Sophat, a project coordinator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). Three families continue to refuse to vacate the small piece of land despite allegedly enduring a daily routine of threats and intimidation from a group of hired thugs. The families claim the men have been ordered to make their lives unliveable by tycoon Khun Sear, a politically connected businessman. …

 Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98gangsters%E2%80%99-target-rights-worker