LICADHO is deeply concerned by the ongoing provocative actions of the 7NG company toward the people of Dey Krahorm, whom it is trying to evict. The most recent incident occurred last night when 7NG employees attempted to bring a large mechanical excavator into Dey Krahorm, which provoked an angry reaction from community residents who feared the earth-moving machine would be used to knock down their houses.

About 8pm, a large truck carrying the mechanical excavator stopped on the road outside the south entrance to Dey Krahorm. Local residents gathered along the roadside and asked the 7NG employees not to enter their community land with the excavator at night-time. Ignoring their requests, the truck driver began reversing the vehicle onto the Dey Krahorm land, clearly intending to unload the excavator there. As a crowd of people gathered round, another 7NG employee in the cab of the excavator began moving the machine's mechanical arm in the direction of the crowd - an extremely dangerous act which could have led to injuries.

At this provocation, some residents in the crowd - many of them children - began throwing stones at the excavator, smashing its windows. The 7NG employees then ran away, leaving the excavator and truck at the scene.

Community representatives of Dey Krahorm tried to quieten the angry crowd and appealed to them through loudspeakers to stop throwing stones, which they did. Meanwhile, 7NG representatives went almost immediately to lodge a complaint with police about damage to the excavator. For more than two hours, 7NG made no attempt to remove the truck or excavator from the scene. Police present made little attempt to intervene or to calm the crowd - in fact, it was the community's own representatives who did this. Very few uniformed police were sent to the scene, but there appeared to be a larger number of plainsclothes police officers - who did nothing but watch and take photographs.

It was not until two and half hours later that 7NG workers finally removed the truck and excavator.

"There is every indication that this entire incident was designed to incite the people of Dey Krahorm to react violently, so that 7NG could seek criminal charges against Dey Krahorm residents." said LICADHO president Kek Galabru. "LICADHO does not condone the damage to the machine caused by some residents, but the company bears some responsibility for what happened."

"By trying to bring this machine at night into an area where people are extremely tense and have lived for months under the threat of eviction, 7NG must have foreseen that it was going to get an angry reaction."

A man who said he was a 7NG representative told human rights workers at the scene that he expected the police to make arrests for the damage to the excavator. He also provided an implausible explanation of why the excavator was brought to area: he claimed that it was merely being driven past Dey Krahorm, on its way to a repair shop, when it was attacked by residents; his explanation failed to account for why the truck was reversing onto Dey Krahorm land, or why the excavator's mechanical arm was being moved.

LICADHO fears that the incident will be used by 7NG to file unjustified criminal complaints of "incitement" against the main representatives of the Dey Krahorm community, despite the fact that those representatives did not encourage - and in fact tried to stop - the residents from damaging the excavator. LICADHO urges the police and courts to respect the law and not to arrest or charge anyone unless there is convincing evidence of a crime being committed by that person.

A total of six community representatives already face a variety of criminal charges previously filed against them, based on complaints by 7NG, despite a lack of evidence against them. There has been a pattern of provocation, intimidation and harassment of Dey Krahorm residents and, particularly, their community representatives. This includes:

- On August 29, 7NG brought construction workers equipped with sharpened crowbars and hatchets into Dey Krahorm to try to dismantle several wooden shelters. When residents peacefully tried to prevent this, police instructed the construction workers to break through the crowd of protesters - which could have easily provoked a violent confrontation. During the incident, a 7NG worker handcuffed a female community representative who was protesting peacefully.

- On September 27, a 7NG security guard complained to police that a Dey Krahorm community representative had stolen his telephone. This followed a brief scuffle when the guard used his phone to photograph the female representative during a press conference, and the phone fell to the ground. The 7NG guard left his phone on the ground and immediately went to the police to complain the representative had stolen it from him. The phone was given to police by the community. The representative was later charged with robbery - which carries a sentence of up to 10 years' imprisonment - despite the total lack of evidence that any such crime occurred.

- Two days ago, December 2, another community representative received a death threat. The man was riding his motorcycle and briefly stopped when an unidentified man pulled up alongside him and warned him "Don't be strong - be careful of death."

"Tensions at Dey Krahorm are extremely high and everyone - the community, the company and the authorities - must work constructively to calm the situation," said Kek Galabru. "The best way for this to happen is for the 7NG company and the government authorities to enter into real negotiations with the community to find a solution to this land dispute which is fair and acceptable to everyone."

For more information, please contact:
▪ Am Sam Ath, Monitoring Technical Supervisor, 012-327-770

PDF: Download full statement in English - Download full statement in Khmer