Cambodian peasants who accused Bolloré of having grabbed their land, rejected by French justice

Eighty Cambodian peasants of the Bunong ethnic group who attacked the French group Bolloré for illegally grabbing their land were dismissed on Friday by the judicial court in Nanterre, near Paris, according to the decision consulted by AFP.

The Bunongs, an itinerant and animist community in eastern Cambodia, blame Bolloré for destroying places of worship and century-old trees considered to be deities.

In 2015, they launched a series of protest actions against the company Bolloré and the Compagnie du Cambodge because they "exercise from France operational power in Bousra within the Socfin-KCD joint venture of which they lead. and organize daily activities ".

They feel they have been robbed of their ancestral forest, replaced in 2008 by rubber plantations.

The plaintiffs claim in particular that "their expropriation resulted in both loss of income and deprived them of the means of subsistence".

In the judgment rendered on Friday, "it follows that none of the 80 applicants and voluntary interveners can justify a real or personal right to exploit the disputed lands".

"The action taken by each of them will therefore be declared inadmissible for lack of quality and interest to act", specifies the decision.

In November 2019, the Nanterre court invited the peasants to produce evidence establishing the existence of the land and a document justifying the civil status of each.

"This judgment is astounding and at odds with international law for indigenous peoples, because the court rejected the documents allowing to establish the identity and the relation with the lands of my clients" reacted to AFP. lawyer of the peasants Me Fiodor Rilov, who appealed against this rejection before the Court of Appeal of Versailles, near Paris.

They must pay a "procedural indemnity" to Bolloré as well as to the company Compagnie du Cambodge of 20.000 euros, according to Friday's judgment.