Heap’s husband was arrested and imprisoned on spurious charges the same day the authorities took all her village’s farming land. With no land and an absent husband, she was suddenly left alone to make ends meet for herself and her four young children.


On 22 March 2009, 175 families from Chi Kreng commune, Siem Reap province, were forcibly evicted from the farmland they had depended on for their food and livelihoods since the late 1980s. Around 80 farmers from Chi Kreng were on the disputed land when they were surrounded by police and government authorities, who demanded that they leave the area.

When the farmers refused to leave, the police opened fire, shooting and seriously injuring four of the villagers. Nine villagers, including Heap’s husband Savoeun, were arrested and convicted for various crimes and imprisoned after unfair trials; three other Chi Kreng villagers were detained in the following months, In April 2011, two years after he was arrested, Savoeun was released. According to Heap, Savoeun was forced to sign a pledge not to claim any rights to their rice field or try to access the land, or face arrest.

The Chi Kreng families remain barred from their farmland. "When I have 1 or 2 kg of rice I share some with others. We face the difficulties together," Heap says.

"For those with power and money, what they do is always right. The government does not help its citizens become rich. The government only helps the rich oppress the poor."

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