By: Priscila Néri, Posted: Apr 3 09

Regions: Cambodia

Issues: Justice, Police brutality

Tags: forced evictions, land grabbing, land rights, Licadho, mobile video

This new video - just uploaded to the Hub by WITNESS partner LICADHO - captures the moment when armed government forces open fire on crowd of farmers in northwestern Cambodia, seriously injuring four villagers. The incident happened on March 22 in the Chi Kreng District of the Siem Reap Province. The footage was captured by a member of the community using his mobile phone. In the video, at least 24 shots can be heard and two police officers can be seen firing their weapons, including one firing an AK-47. Watch:

Nine villagers were also arrested by police during the confrontation.  They were charged with robbery of rice and beans for allegedly having prevented other people from harvesting crops on the disputed land.  After the shooting, a three-day investigation conducted by LICADHO concluded that although the villagers were refusing to leave their land at the time of the confrontation, they were not using - or threatening to use - any form of violence against police, as the authorities later claimed.

According to LICADHO, the villagers are among 175 families that have been fighting to keep the land they've been living and farming on since 1986. "Their efforts to obtain legal ownership documents for the land in 2004 were twice rebuffed by local authorities, who later allegedly supported several businessmen to lay claim to the land," says a statement released by LICADHO.

LICADHO Calls for Justice

LICADHO is now calling on the Royal Cambodian government to ensure a proper, neutral investigation into the case and suspend the two police officers involved in the shooting until the investigation has been completed.  They're also calling for the immediate release of the nine villagers that were arrested and for the establishment of a national working group to investigate the land dispute in a fair and impartial manner.

Land-Grabbing in Cambodia

Forced evictions and "land-grabbing" are among the most widespread human rights violations in Cambodia today. Those affected are almost exclusively marginalized groups living in poverty, in both urban and rural areas. In 2008, at least 27 forced evictions affecting over 20,000 people were reported in the media and by local organizations.

Earlier this year, my colleague Ryan Schlief wrote about the forced eviction of the Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh - read his posts and watch this video taken as the bulldozers entered the community without warning and destroyed the homes of more than 150 families.

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* Forward this video to your friends and family and let them know what's happening in Cambodia

* Support the work of LICADHO, which has been protecting human rights in Cambodia since 1992

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