A/HRC/7/56 page 13 police to stop the people on the road. Also in Ratanakiri, another civil society organization, ADHOC, actively involved in the protection of land rights and indigenous peoples, was prohibited in mid-December from holding a workshop on the implementation of the Land Law, to be attended by district and commune authorities and local communities. The workshop nevertheless proceeded and was followed by a small, peaceful march, which was stopped and dispersed with fire engine hoses. 43. In the context of disputes over unregistered land, community activists continue to be charged with criminal offences under the Land Law, such as infringement of private property, although the legal possession of land has not been determined. However, little action has been taken to resolve long-standing land disputes that threaten community livelihoods, and criminal charges have not been pursued against the other parties to those land disputes, who often have influential connections. On 4 December 2007, Chhea Nee was released after having been detained since August 2006, in relation to a dispute over unregistered land involving military officers and wealthy businesspeople in Bavel district, Battambang province. There were several irregularities in the judicial process relating to the charges against him, including his absence from the trial relating to the first charge, and a guilty verdict on two charges which were altered at or following trial. In May and June 2007, three community members from O’Vor Preng in Battambang province were detained and charged with infringement of private property in relation to a land dispute with wealthy and well-connected businessmen. Although the trial judge suspended the charge against Chim Keo pending the resolution of the dispute over land ownership, he remained in detention because the prosecutor appealed this decision. Tith Bunchhoeun and Huong Chea were granted bail, but also remained in detention because the prosecutor appealed this decision. The 3 men were finally released in September 2007, after 65 community members travelled to Phnom Penh to protest and call on the Ministry of Justice to take action to release the men. 44. Criminal charges have also been pursued against community members who have resisted evictions or attempts to evict them from their land and homes. Following the violent eviction of over 100 families in Sihanoukville by armed police officers in April 2007, during which many villagers were beaten, 13 villagers were arrested and charged with battery and with injury and wrongful damage to property, or complicity in these crimes. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, eight men were convicted: most of them had served their sentences in pretrial detention and were eligible for release, but they all remain in detention due to the prosecutor’s appeal against their sentences. No action has been taken against police officers who used excessive force, destroying homes and assaulting residents. Nine community members have faced criminal charges at the Dey Krahom community in central Phnom Penh, where over 350 families face ongoing evictions so that a company can redevelop the site. It appears that these charges are not well-founded, and have been pursued to curtail the activism of community members resisting the evictions. 45. The Office closely monitored a case in which 12 indigenous villagers from Ratanakiri province have taken legal action against a Cambodian rubber company with close ties to senior government officials, seeking the cancellation of a contract for the sale of land on the grounds that it was fraudulent. The company filed a criminal complaint against the villagers for fraud and defamation, mentioning their lawyers and two NGO representatives and alleging that they incited