Eviction Watch

Mittapheap 4, Sihanoukville

On April 20, 2007, 117 families were violently evicted from their village at Mittapheap 4 village, Sihanoukville Municipality. Early in the morning, roughly 150 police, military police and RCAF soldiers armed with AK-47s, shot guns, electric batons, wooden sticks and shields surrounded the village. They came to forcibly remove the villagers from their land and homes on behalf of Mrs. Peng Ravy, the wife of a senior advisor to Senate President Chea Sim.

Mrs. Peng Ravy began to publicly claim ownership of the land in 2006 and sent police to tell the villagers that they had to leave. The Mayor of Sihanoukville Say Hak also told the villagers that Mrs. Ravy is the owner of the land and signed a January 19 th 2007 eviction notice that ordered the families to vacate their land within seven days. The villagers refused to leave because they believe themselves to be the lawful owners of the land. 17 families began settling the disputed land in 1985, when the area was still the scene of fighting between Khmer Rouge and government forces. 55 villagers claim to have lived there since 2000. At no point until 2006 did the villagers have reason to believe that another party otherwise owned the land that they peacefully occupied and farmed. The lawyer for the villagers from the local human rights organization Licadho claims that Mrs. Ravy has never presented a title deed demonstrating her ownership of the land. The violent forced eviction of April 20 th was carried out by the authorities without a court order and had no basis in law whatsoever. The violence that ensued between the authorities and the villagers was caused by the illegal eviction.

Villagers and a Licadho monitor who observed the events claim that the government forces arrived with three police trucks, an excavator and two water trucks filled with a mixture of water and gasoline. They claimed that the military and police entered the village fully armed with the intention of violently removing the families. Village children began to throw rocks at the police and soldiers, who fired their guns at the ground and above the heads of the villagers. The government forces evidently stopped for a while to eat rice, during which time the situation calmed down. After eating rice, villagers claim the forces again began shooting at the ground and in the air to compel the villagers to leave their village. People attempted to gather their belongings, but the police and soldiers would only let them take their babies. People trying to take their property were beaten with sticks and electric batons. Five women were injured and thirteen men were badly hurt, many of them knocked unconscious. One 77-year old man was hit on the forehead with an electric baton and had to be hospitalized. Two police officers were also injured. The thirteen men were arrested for battery and destruction of police property and taken to prison. The police and military took the valuables from the villagers, included sixteen motorbikes. They then proceeded to burn down their homes, along with their clothes and belongings that were not looted by the authorities. 80 houses were burned to the ground and the remaining 26 were demolished. One of the villagers captured these scenes in remarkable photographs, which can be viewed in the photo gallery below.

90 of the families are currently living in tiny makeshift tarpaulin shacks on the side of the road in front of where their homes once stood. Three or four families are sleeping together in one of these two to three square meter shacks.

Mittapheap 4 Press Statement 07/05/07
Mittapheap 4 Trial Verdict News 07/05/07

Bridges Delivers Emergency Aid to Families Violently Evicted from their Homes
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