Three Bunong indigenous family members were arrested by Mondulkiri provincial police on Sunday over a land dispute in Chamkar Te Village, Spean Thmor Commune. They were sent to Mondulkiri provincial court for questioning on Tuesday afternoon, according to the human rights organization ADHOC.

Police first contacted the Bunong relatives on Wednesday, when the Mondulkiri provincial police commissioner issued a summons to Nhev Mloeung, and his family members Meung Sotek and Kreuk Try. The police asked them to come to the Office of Minor Criminal Police in Mondulkiri to discuss a complaint filed by Non Phally. Phally alleged that the Bunong relatives had destroyed and stolen fence posts on his land.

Mloeung said the 12-hectare piece of land has belonged to his family since 1979, but until now it has not been registered with the government. In order to prevent cattle from entering the farmland, Mloeung said he built a fence around the land in early April.

“I received a summons [on Wednesday] and I agreed to go to the police and make a record of the land. I described the story of my ancestral land that was left to the next generation to take care of,” he said. “The police said both sides have no right to do anything on the disputed land, wait for a solution.”

But, according to Mloeung, people who claimed the land was theirs did not listen to the police and instead continued to destroy the fence and clear the land on Sunday.

“I came in and forbade them to continue, but they filed a complaint,” he said. “The police came to arrest my grandfather, brother and sister and sent them to the Mondulkiri provincial police commissioner immediately. ”

Even though he himself was not arrested, Mloeung said police officials forced him to be fingerprinted and sign an agreement to end the conflict; they told him if he did not agree he would have to go to court.

The forcible and warrantless arrests were unjust, Mloeung said.

“I am a victim, it is not fair for us, I did nothing wrong, just go and see peacefully. Why did the owner of the land get arrested and put in a car to the provincial commissioner?” he said. “And why is the person who came to encroach on our land not wrong?”

CamboJA did not reach Non Phally for comment in time for publication of this story.

So Sovann, Mondulkiri provincial police deputy, told CamboJA that the three relatives were sent to the police because they were the ones who destroyed and stole the fence posts. He said the land title belonged to someone else, not the arrested family members.

The police will release the three indigenous people after they accept the truth that the land does not belong to them, Sovann said.

“After they [the Bunong family members] agree to give the land to the owner’s who have the [land title] documents, and after we finish the negotiation, they can go back home,” he said.

Kroeung Tola, ADHOC monitoring officer in Mondulkiri Province, said the three indigenous people had tried to stop others from clearing their land on Sunday. They wanted to settle the disagreement peacefully, and did not do anything violent or illegal, he said.

“They just wanted to negotiate a proper solution and ask them to stop clearing their burial land, but another group said they had the land title and all the documents. But the indigenous people did not agree to give up their land or have it cleared by others,” he said. “Then the person who claimed he was the landowner called the police to catch [the Bunong family members].”

The 12-hectare piece of land includes a plantation and burial grounds of the Bunong ethnic group, according to Tola.

“[Bunong people] protected this land since 1979, but during Pol Pot’s regime they were taken to another place,” he said. “After the war ended, they came back in 1983 and continued to protect the land until today, but the land title is with other people.”

Arresting people without a warrant is wrong and this case is not a criminal offense, he said. He added that the authorities should deal with this situation in accordance with Cambodian law, whether these three individuals are right or wrong about the land belonging to them.

Am Sam Ath, operations manager with the NGO LICADHO, said that the authorities should have properly investigated this case before making the arrests.

“If there is a directive from the authorities, both sides should wait for a peaceful settlement and should not touch the disputed land,” Samath said. “But if only one party goes to record the actions of the other party peacefully, and then there are arrests, it is a violation of their rights and unreasonable.”

Mloeung hopes that Mondulkiri authorities help to intervene in this land dispute and that his relatives will be let go immediately.

“I urge the authorities, relevant officials at all levels and the Ministry of Justice to help resolve the land issue and release my three relatives,” he said. “We, the indigenous people, are very alarmed when family members are arrested.”