Press Release
Involving Around the Summary Arrest of Swin Vev and Yang Thorn, ADHOC’s Volunteer Human Rights Activists in Ratanakiri province November 27, 2008
ADHOC would absolutely condemn the action taken by provincial authorities and court officials to arrest two ADHOC’s volunteer human rights activists at Lumphat district, Ratanakiri province. It is an unjust act, a threat and an intimidation against human rights activists, and it is aimed at intimidating the ethnic minority groups preventing them from going out to the open to voice their concerns over the continuing devastation of their forest land committed by the illegal logging dealers in collusion with local authorities.
Background
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On November 27, 2008, at 5:00pm, Swin Vev, male, 36, and Yang Thorn, male, 43, Representatives of 136 indigenous residents of Patang village, Patang commune, Lumphat district, were summoned to the court for questioning about their involvement in a land dispute in Patang area. After questioning, the court ordered police to shackle them when suddenly shouting,” Help! Help! Very Unjust!” Police started beating them and strangling them, and deputy-prosecutor stuffed up their mouth with the tissue. That is a cruel form of torture committed by provincial authority on human rights defenders.
A crowd of around 40 people standing outside the court’s compound rushed into it and then they battled against police in order to rescue victims. In that incident, a lot of people were seriously injured. They fought police because they thought that the court were unable to render them justice or protect them in front of the law. That is the reason why they took justice in their hand.
The fighting between people and police took place about 10 minutes. After that police could re-arrest Yang Thorn, whom police allegedly charged with theft of a motorcycle.
Torture on Yang Thorn was offended by both police and people standing nearby, who fiercely demonstrated their hatred against thief. After that, police threw victim into a truck transporting him to police station and then to provincial pre-trial detention center. While Mr. Svin Vev could escape from police hunting down and stay in a safer place.
ADHOC considered that the summary arrest of its two activists as an unjust and inhuman act, not right law enforcement, committed by both police and court. It constitutes a threat against volunteer human rights activists aiming at undermining ADHOC’s activity to promote and protect human rights, and it is also an intimidation with its center to prevent people from laying a just claim for their grabbed forest land back. Indigenous people’s great endeavors are to put a halt to further encroachment on their traditional and ancestral forest land occurring in almost districts of Ratanakiri.
After investigation, ADHOC found that land conflict between DM Group Company and Patang indigenous community occurred in 2003. Since then, people have lodged a complaint with local authorities and the provincial court for the return of that land, but in vain. They have been forced to accept a little money compensation from the company, which has razed to the ground thousands of hectares of indigenous community’s crops and felled down hundreds of hectares of the precious woods. People filed complaints against this with provincial authorities, but no action was taken.
Such a situation has shown that provincial court as well as police authority did not investigate or intervene in the case of forest devastation that is a serious infringement of the penal law and controversial to government policy. On the contrary, the company filed a lawsuit with Ratanakiri provincial court against two indigenous community representatives, charging them with destroying individual property and preventing DM Group Company from planting the rubber trees. In this case, the provincial court used its bad trick to summon two indigenous people representatives and then detained them with no evidence at all.
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ADHOC together with all indigenous community people would absolutely condemn the summary arrest of activists, human rights defenders, who courageously challenged the illegal logging dealers and land grabbers. ADHOC would insistently call upon relevant government competent authorities on all levels, both provincial and national, especially Ratanakiri provincial court to release the two human rights activists, representatives of indigenous community people, and immediately put an end to any alleged charges and hunting down of people for their involvement in land disputes.
We would call upon people and indigenous community members to gather together in defense of their genuine rights by non-violent and legal means, preventing the recurrence of such an inhuman act in Ratanakiri province.
Finally, we would also make a strong appeal to all national and international NGOs and associations to join hands for promotion of human rights and freedoms of indigenous people in order to achieve the release of the two human rights activists from the pre-trial detention center.
Dated on 1rst December 2008
For further information, please keep in touch with
Mr. Ny Chakrya, Head of ADHOC Monitoring Section, Cell-phone No. 011 274 959
