Pm's Edict Not 'interference': Official

A Justice Ministry official yesterday defended Prime Minister Hun Sen's decision to tell Banteay Meanchey provincial officials to disregard a Supreme Court court order in a land dispute.

The premier last week slammed the 2011 verdict, which declared Toul Sopheak and her family the rightful owners of a 4-hectare plot of land and ordered that the soldiers living there illegally be evicted.

In a public speech, he said he had told officials, both military and civilian, to block the long-delayed eviction of the soldiers, which was scheduled for March 16, and to review the case.

After seeing the soldiers' plight on Facebook, Hun Sen said: I had to take the phone and call to Bun Seng, the [military] head of Region 5 and ask 'what's the issue? and I called the provincial governor and told him not to implement [the enforcement] and review the case.

Yesterday, Justice Ministry...