BRIEFING

Illegal Forced Eviction of 105 Families in Sihanoukville Fact Sheet

Released in July 2007
F T M

On the morning of 20 April 2007, a mixed group of some 150 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) personnel, military police, and civilian police armed with guns, electric batons, shields and tear gas forcibly evicted the Spean Ches community, 105 families, from Village 6 in Sihanoukville's Mittapheap District.

In the course of the raid, the security forces burned down 60 houses and completely demolished the remaining houses using heavy machinery. The evicted families were not permitted to remove possessions from their homes before they were destroyed and lost-inter alia- important documents which would have been essential in defending their case before the court. In the ensuing clashes between the authorities and the villagers two police officers and one military police officer, as well as a number of villagers, were injured. Thirteen villagers were arrested and later charged with "wrongful damage to property" (Article 52 UNTAC Law1)- charges which relate to the alleged destruction of police equipment used in the raid- and "battery with injury" (Article 41 UNTAC Law).

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