Wednesday, 16 January 2008

Getting Angry with Other People Who Grab Land, Taking Revenge on Parliamentarian Chin Kimsreng


16 January 2008.
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 543

“Phnom Penh: A man, who seems to have mental problems, knocked a Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker down, causing serious injury. Moreover, the same man rammed the lawmaker’s car into the front gate of his house, damaging it badly.

“This event happened at 11:30 p.m. on 13 January in front of the house #17, Street 71, Boeng Keng Kang, Chamkarmon. While being detained by the police, the offender tried to commit suicide repeatedly, but he was rescued in time.

“Local police said that the above home belongs to Mr. Chin Kimsreng, 70, a lawmaker of the Cambodian People’s Party from Kompong Cham. His house is separated into two halves, to rent one to a French person to open a small bar, while the rest was kept as his residence. The offender is Ros Sovann, 28, a guard working for Protek Security, residing at Russey Sros, Niroth, Meanchey. He had been sent by his company to guard Mr. Chin Kimsreng’s home.

“Ros Sovann seemed not to be frightened about his act. A witness, as well as the police, said that Ros Sovann behaved like a mad man. However, according to what Ros Sovann said, his act was planned. Ros Sovann said that he had a rancor against high-ranking officials, after his land in Russey Sros village had been abusively grabbed by high-ranking officials.

This land problem prevents him also from getting married. His mother told him that only if she could sell her land she would be able to support his wedding. Since then, he has always been so rancorous against high-ranking officials so that he even requested that his company send him to guard high-ranking officials’ homes, in order to find a chance of taking revenge on them. Later, the company sent him to guard Chin Kim Sreng’s home which was rented to the French person to open a small bar.

“Ros Sovann added that while he saw Chin Kimsreng stopping his Lexus car in front of his house and was opening the gate, he attacked Chin Kimsreng with a steel pipe and knocked him unconscious, so that he fell on the ground. Then Ros Sovann got into Chin Kimsreng’s car and began ramming it into the front gate of the house.

“Police said that Ros Sovann confirmed that he never had a rancor specifically against Chin Kimsreng as a person, and he did not run away.

“Alerted by the noise of the Lexus, nearby private security guards turned out to help and stopp Ros Sovann. The victim Chin Kimsreng was sent to Calmette Hospital, and on 14 January he was still unconscious.

“At the Chamkarmon district temporary detention center, Ros Sovann tried to commit suicide 2 or 3 times, until the electricity was disconnected.

“According to the police report, first Ros Sovann tore a pillow into pieces and tied himself with the pieces to the bar of the door to commit suicide, but he did not succeed, because the pieces of the pillow were too fragile. After that, Ros Sovann tried to commit suicide with an electric wire, but he was rescued by police in time. Police said that they could not sleep the whole night, as they had organized shifts to keep watching Ros Sovann.

“Nov Yeab, 54, Ros Sovann’s mother said that her son has had mental problems after she didn’t agree to support his wedding, because her land dispute was not settled. She added that formerly she had a plot of land of 15×200 meters at Russey Sros village. Currently she has only 15×40 meters of land, because the other part was grabbed from her. That land had been rented out to Klauk Dul, the village chief, to build a village office, but later the land was sold by a new village chief. In 1994, she filed a complaint to the court, but no one has sought justice for her so far.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4489, 15.1.2008

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