Locals seeking justice after ‘broken deal’
Villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district are demanding their land back, claiming buyers from a local company failed to uphold a 2007 deal. The 66 ethnic Kreung families filed a complaint on Friday after workers from a nearby rubber plantation started to slash and burn the 400 hectares of disputed land. According to the complaint, villagers had farmed the land since 1979. But in 2007, Seng Visith and his wife, Sek Sopheak Soeur Monea, who together owned a majority share of the now bankrupt VKM Company, promised them $20,000 and to build bridges, roads, schools and a village hall. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/locals-seeking-justice-after-%E2%80%98broken-deal%E2%80%99
