The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Mickey Mouse trial” plus 9 more

If those eight were governors of various provinces, they'd be awaiting some kind of Mickey Mouse trial in their villas.

The Pursat Provincial Court has issued a summons to a soldier based on the Thai border for allegedly clearing protected land in Veal Veng district, a move the man believes was orchestrated by a company owned by tycoon Try Pheap, which is embroiled in an ongoing land dispute with his and other families.

The soldier's wife is known for leading protests by villagers against the company, and she has travelled to Phnom Penh to seek the direct intervention of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

MDS Import Export Co, owned by Pheap, was issued a 4,402-hectare concession to plant rubber trees in the area in 2010.

The concession overlaps with land plots that villagers have said were awarded to them by commune chiefs in 2000 and that were reportedly measured again before the recent election as part of the national land-titling project.

Tim Thoeun, the soldier summonsed, said authorities have stopped villagers from clearing or farming their land since 2010 on the pretext that it is part of a protected area.

"I don't know which side has filed a complaint against me because the warrant did not specify, but I suspect [it was] oknha Try Pheap's company … because they have banned people in the area from farming their land," he said.

"It is very unfair for me, and I regret that I have been using my strength to protect the nation but have been served with a court warrant in return. I have never cleared or burned the forest as accused."

According to an investigation by rights group Adhoc, 10 soldiers were sued in the same way by Environment Ministry officers in March.

Adhoc senior investigator Chan Soveth was also sued by a commune chief in April for allegedly inciting villagers to defy local authorities.

Thoeun, however, is the first to receive a court summons.

"Tim Thoeun's case is because his wife is a representative of the people who are always out protesting to protect their land," Adhoc's Soveth said.

MDS could not be reached for comment.

Scores of youths yesterday called on Phnom Penh Municipal Court to drop charges against four people who last month were accused of producing and distributing materials encouraging a military coup.

In a petition thumbprinted by more than 130 members of local NGO Youth for Peace, the group says there was insufficient evidence to link the four to any anti-government plot.

"Our youth just wanted to distribute flowers with no purpose of taking down the government," Youth for Peace representative Heng Samnang said.

Tout Chanpanha and Sok Dalis were arrested on August 15 as they picked up flowers, while Heuy Borin and Lin Lipheng were arrested for printing materials with allegedly anti-government sentiments. Police claimed the group had been preparing to hand out flowers bearing messages for soldiers to turn their guns against the government.

All four refuted the accusations and insisted they harboured no anti-government sentiments.

On August 20, the group was released on bail, though the charges still stand.

Far stricter monitoring of the recruitment and employment of Cambodians and other migrant labourers is needed to ensure the future of the Thai fishing industry, a new study by the International Labour Organization warns.

"Improving working conditions is also vital to addressing the severe labour shortages in the fishing sector, and to ensure the sustainability of the industry," Supang Chantavanich, director of the Asian Research Center on Migration, said in a statement.

Released yesterday, the ILO survey on working conditions in the perilous Thai fishing industry is the most comprehensive to date.

Though the sample size numbers only in the hundreds, the study provides the first widespread look at conditions aboard fishing trawlers and the reasons why the risky industry continues to lure.

Two and a half per cent of the 241 Cambodians interviewed reported having been severely beaten while on board, while a quarter were forced to work or be on call 17 to 24 hours a day.

Despite the abysmal hours, however, wages remain low. More than 56 per cent of Cambodians receive an average monthly wage of less than 5,000 baht ($158). The majority – 61.4 per cent – possess no documents of any sort, while four per cent are underage.

The report highlights at least one "extremely exploitative" case of a 12-year-old Cambodian "who reported working 20 hours in a typical day".

Despite the hardships, however, more than 99 per cent of Cambodians interviewed said they had accepted the positions voluntarily – driven by the prospect of more lucrative work abroad.

But of those who voluntarily climb aboard, many "also reported experiences that indicate a forced-labour situation at some point during their employment in the fishing industry", the report notes. "For example, 60 respondents [of all nationalities] were severely beaten while on board a fishing vessel, 66 respondents tried to escape from a fishing boat and 24 respondents were sold or transferred to another boat against their will."

More than 70 Cambodians trafficked to work on Thai trawlers have been repatriated this year alone, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.

Kampong Chhnang town police have launched an investigation after remnants of a human leg that likely belonged to a man who disappeared four years ago were found in a pond on Sunday, local officials said.

Workers were clearing grass in Kampong Chhnang town's Pa'er commune when they made the grisly discovery, commune police chief Som Chantha said.

According to Chantha, the left femur, or thighbone, was still in a pair of belted blue trousers.

Yesterday morning, Kiv Kimyang, 53, and her husband came to look at the remains, Chantha said.

They recognised the belt as one that had belonged to their son Sen Socheat, 23, who vanished in 2009, he added.

"After listening to the couple's story, I reported the case to [town police]," he said.

Speaking with the Post yesterday, Kimyang was resolute the remains were her son's.

"I think that this bone is my son's, because I recognise the trousers and the belt that my son was wearing on the night he disappeared," she said.

Socheat was a construction worker who disappeared after getting into a drunken argument at a party in January 2009.

Kimyang added that after her son disappeared, she dreamt that he came to her and asked for a blanket because he was cold after being killed by his friends, who had left his body in a pond.

"But I did not believe the dream [at the time]" she said.

Yesterday morning, police questioned four people suspected of being involved.

Hul Vesna, Kampong Chhnang town deputy police chief, told the Post that the man could have been drunk-driving when he fell into the pond and drowned.

"We questioned four people, two of whom are … friends of the victim.… They are also suspected by the victim's mother of being involved in an argument with the victim on the night he disappeared. All of their answers [check out], but authorities will continue to investigate to find the truth," he said.

The third phase of a project designed to revamp Phnom Penh's drainage system, currently inundated by seasonal rains, began yesterday.

Four areas of the city spanning a total of 369,445 metres will be witness to the next stage of the project's implementation, part of an ongoing $350 million drainage system project spearheaded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Preliminary planning for the third stage began in 2012 and is slated for completion in 2015.

The latest construction dovetails with a city-wide campaign to clear garbage-filled pipes, launched last Saturday.

JICA has been working with City Hall since 1999 to improve the capital's drainage system.

The initial two phases of the project's implementation took nearly a decade to complete and cost more than $19 million.

The third instalment of the project will expand and repair drainage in four areas: 60,789 metres around Tuol Sleng; 19,058 metres around O'Russey; 162,871 in Boeung Keng Kang and 126,727 metres around Tuol Tumpong, Sam Piseth, director of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said.

All four areas in Chamkarmon, Daun Penh and Prampi Makara districts will be receiving "new draining and [new pipes] to ease flooding in the southern area of the city," Sam said, adding that JICA is contributing four additional trucks to aid with drainage cleanup, repairs and technical support.

Last Friday at the project's ceremonial launch, Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong asked local residents to be tolerant of traffic jams and other construction-related disturbances for the sake of the city's betterment.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AMELIA WOODSIDE

Jewellery and cash totalling $50,000 dollars was stolen from the Phnom Penh residence of a major general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces while he and his wife were out.

Major Huoth Chan Yarann, chief of Tuol Kork district police, confirmed that the residence of Major General Kim Reaksmey, 35, and his wife, Per Chan Navy, 40, in Teuk La'ak III commune was robbed on Friday night.

A commune police officer who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press told the Post yesterday that two men parked a Toyota Camry, later used in their getaway, outside the house prior to gaining entry.

According to the officer, two maids employed by the general were serving the suspects water when one allegedly pulled out a knife and the second bound and taped the mouths of both women.

Both suspects have been identified as acquaintances of the general during the preliminary police investigation. The major general and his wife could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A funeral procession mourns the death of a young man who wasn't wearing a helmet on his moto. Scenes show him, before the crash, playing drinking games with friends and scrambling for the attention of a pretty local girl in a plum-coloured dress.

Fortunately, these sombre scenes are fabricated for the audience through dance and theatre, though they will probably strike a chord with many Cambodians.

The performance of the troupe's newest piece, titled MOTO MOTO, took place at the Epic Arts Centre, Kampot.

Instead of listening to the beat, the dancers keep time by feeling the vibrations through the floor, explains Laura Evans, the arts program adviser at the NGO, after the show.

After all, six of the members are deaf. Ranging between 20-28-years-old, all the performers have a disability of some kind. They have graduated from the Epic Arts-run Inclusive Arts Course – the first of its kind in Cambodia – and they are, according to Anthony Evans, program development manager at Epic Arts, one if not the only "fully inclusive dance company in the whole of Southeast Asia".

The theme of MOTO MOTO is road safety. Before the performance the audience is informed that around four people die every day as a result of a motorcycle related accident.

The decision to focus on road safety was based on a nasty accident witnessed by the team in February.

"On their last tour, on the way back, they saw two deaths in one go. Two guys [on motos], no helmets, hit lorries when overtaking. Their heads were basically caved in," Anthony says.

The piece is a joint collaboration between British choreographer Rebecca Devitt, 30, and the team. Together they workshop ideas and the result is a performance that includes local cultural references and some classic dance moves, such as using white shirts to symbolise the funeral procession.

Dou Sokun (or Kun), 28, is one of the dancers. He is in a wheelchair, and says that collaboration has, at times, been difficult.

"At the beginning it was very hard because I only knew a little bit of sign language. But from day-to-day, by asking people and learning from them it became a bit easier. The way that I communicate with the team is not a big problem now."

The previous ensemble tour did not focus on social issues – its purpose was simply to encourage people all over the country to "see ability, not disability" and create awareness. So what led to the change in artistic direction?

"We believe that the meaning of inclusiveness is to completely forget about disability," Anthony says. "Some people go 'this piece isn't about disability?' What's inclusive about it is that some of them [the people on the course] are deaf and some of them are not disabled, not that it's about disability."

Anthony hopes this will be the first of many such tours in Cambodia, and adds that other issues already suggested by communities and NGOs include topics as diverse as acid attacks, landmines and sexual health – "don't know how we'd do that one!" he says, laughing.

Epic Arts still needs some $5,000 to tour the production but believes the country is in desperate need of a road safety awakening. "These guys are ready for it and it seems like the rest of Cambodia is ready for it as well," Anthony says.

To donate to Epic Art's MOTO MOTO project visit: indiegogo.com/projects/epic-arts-moto-moto.

The members of the Cambodian Davis Cup tennis team spent a quiet weekend in Kep to keep up with the long tradition of visiting a holy mountain-top pagoda in the seaside town for prayers before every major event.

The team took time off from an ongoing intensive training camp in Phnom Penh to pray at the Asrom Sel Votei pagoda on Sunday morning to seek divine blessing before their trip next week to Dubai for the Asia Oceania Group III campaign.

Only nuns reside in this pagoda, regarded by the local population as a spiritually unique place, and it has become a tradition for Cambodian tennis teams to offer prayers there before they go out on foreign assignments.

"I first saw this place years ago by chance during one of my mountain bike adventures," non-playing captain Tep Rithivit said.

"I find this place so peaceful and spiritually uplifting. Now it has become a routine. Every time that we travel, we are here first."

All four players – Bun Kenny, Long Samneang, Mam Phalkun and his younger brother Panhara, who arrived in Phnom Penh last Thursday night, along with national coach Braen Aneiros – accompanied Tep Rithivit on this short mountain mission.

"The players needed this break. This week they will be training real hard. We used the weekend for some relaxation in this beautiful seaside city," Aneiros told the Post.

"This Kep therapy, as it has become known, worked very well for us during our Mission to Doha [last year]. I hope it works the same way for us in Dubai," added the Cuban-born coach, who was a Panamanian Davis Cup player in his playing career.

A team of four athletes comprised of two wrestlers, one runner and one judoka have been invited to represent Cambodia at the 2013 Francophone Games (Jeux de la Francophonie), which is being held in the southeastern French city of Nice from September 6-16.

However, the planned trip has been met with controversy after revelations that the athletes will not travel with their coaches but under the supervision of three delegates, who are charged with ensuring the government-funded excursion does not turn into a holiday.

An official at the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia told the Post that the competitors included SEA Games gold-medal-winning wrestler Chov Sotheara, her male teammate Kang Den Piseth, judoka Kim Sarom, a SEA Games bronze medallist, and middle distance runner Kieng Samorn, who appeared at the 2012 London Olympics.

The delegates, all from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport's department of sport, include director Ouk Sethycheat, vice director Oun Syavuth and deputy general secretary Bou Chum Serey.

Officials at the Ministry were unavailable for comment on the decision to snub the coaches in France.