Former allies battle

Fighting broke out in the capital’s Phnom Penh Thmey commune yesterday as evictees from a formerly united community were blocked from reclaiming their land by the very woman who once represented them. Dozens of villagers, representing 163 families who were forcibly evicted from the area in 2005, descended on the site of their former homes yesterday morning, armed with tools and pieces of wood, ready to rebuild their lives. “We will return to live on our land,” they announced in a letter sent earlier this week to Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatevong. But hopes of a triumphant return were soon destroyed, as their former representative, 56-year-old Chea Sarom, blocked their attempts to build. Sarom, who represented the evictees in their dispute with businesswoman Keo Neam, led them to victory in 2011, when the Supreme Court ruled that they owned the land. But the families say that Sarom has since proved a turncoat, and prevented them from returning. Evictees accuse their former representative of putting false names on official documents so that she could claim ownership of the entire plot Current representative Preoung Socheat told the Post yesterday that all 163 families had been left off of the land documents submitted to the court. “Chea Sarom had been our representative, but when the court awarded us the land, she claimed to own it. She falsified the names of 163 families,” Socheat said. Villagers yesterday faced off with their former comrade, who was flanked by a small group of people she said were the real evictees, but who villagers’ claimed were members of her family and hired thugs.