Friday, June 29, 2012
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| Members of the ‘Boeung Kak 13’ celebrate with supporters after being released yesterday. Photograph: Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post |
Friday, 29 June 2012
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post
Opposition Sam Rainsy Party senators visited the 13 women yesterday and gave them packages of milled rice and 500,000 riel ($122).
Criminal convictions and more than a month
in Prey Sar prison have done little to frighten the Boeung Kak 13, who
yesterday vowed to keep fighting their land dispute until it is won.
“We are free,” Tep Vanny said
at her home in Boeung Kak. “But we remain convicted criminals.”
The Court of Appeal reduced the
women’s sentences on Wednesday from two-and-a-half years to one month
and three days – time they had already served – but upheld guilty verdicts
from their lawyer-less three-hour trial on May 24.
But Vanny said yesterday the
women were innocent and believed the guilty verdict had been upheld
because the authorities wanted to scare them into ending their protests.
“But
I’m not afraid and I’m not scared. We will continue until
there’s a solution.”
The women were arrested during a
protest at Boeung Kak on May 22 and found guilty two days later of
occupying state land and obstructing public officials in aggravating
circumstances.
The judge reduced the sentence
on Wednesday on the grounds many of them were mothers.
Heng Mom said she would continue
protesting until Phnom Penh municipal officials demarcated 12.44
hectares of land that Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to villagers in
August.
“My family and others have not received a
land title from City Hall yet, so we will go on protesting until we have
a solution,” she said.
Land at Boeung Kak was granted
to Shukaku, a company owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin, in 2007 for a
US$79 million development. Thousands of families have since been evicted
from the site.
Tol Srey Pov, who was grateful
for her freedom yesterday, said the villagers would not “stay still”
until they had a solution.
“We will file a complaint
against [Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema] if he does not properly
divide the 12.44 hectares,” she said.
Bov Sophea, another of the 13
women, was coming to terms yesterday with the fact that her sister Bov
Srey Sras had lost her unborn baby after she was allegedly kicked in the
stomach as supporters clashed with police on Wednesday.
“I am so sad this has happened
to my sister, because it was her first child. I will help her to file a
complaint to the police,” she said.
Despite numerous calls, Phnom
Penh police commissioner Touch Naroth, Daunh Penh district police chief
Hun Sothy and Chuktema could not be reached for comment.
Nget Khun, the oldest of the
released women at 72, said she had been detained in a small building in
Prey Sar with 60 others, including murderers.
“There was 1.2 square metres for
four people to sleep on,” she said, adding she had paid 1,500 riel per
day for clean water.
Support for the women’s release
has flowed since the Court of Appeal’s decision but has come with calls
for the convictions to be quashed.
NGOs Gender and Development for
Cambodia, SILAKA, Cambodia Men’s Network and Legal Support for Children
and Women said yesterday the convictions should be overturned because
the initial trial was unjust. “We believe and hope that real justice
will be given.”
Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk
yesterday provided a tonne of milled rice, clothes and two million riel
($485) to 66 Boeung Kak families who had sent a petition to her.
Opposition Sam Rainsy Party senators visited
the 13 women yesterday and gave them packages of milled rice and
500,000 riel ($122).
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