Phnom Penh , Cambodia ( CNN ) -- In a week where three top surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime stand trial for crimes against humanity , the legacy of that era is still creating upheaval more than 30 years later . Land ownership is a vague and often contentious issue in a country where the Khmer Rouge destroyed all land records between 1975 and 1979 . During this period , the regime pushed its utopian Communist ideal of an agrarian society forcing thousands from the cities to work in the fields in the countryside . An estimated 1.7 million people died during the Khmer Rouge reign . Twelve years ago , Myaeung Duong Kear bought land around Boeung Kak Lake -- a big lake in the center of Phnom Penh , now prized real estate . He bought the land from another resident who had claimed the land as their own . There was no real transfer of documents . Myaeung says he just got a piece of paper after the purchase which served as his record . He knew the transaction fell into a gray area , but that 's the way things were done , he said . Myaeung built a home and set up a business inside his house fixing mobile phones . In September of this year , a developer 's bulldozer knocked down his home , business and livelihood . 3 top Khmer Rouge leaders go on trial . The developer , Shukaku Inc. , is owned by a powerful Cambodian senator , Lao Meng Khin , who signed a 99-year lease with the government for the lake property . The company has been in the process of filling in the lake and removing residents off the lake property to make way for plans to build luxury apartments and shops . The company and the government say the 4000 families -- including Myaeung Duong Kear 's family -- who lived around the lake were removed because they were living in a designated development zone . CNN contacted the senator , who did not respond to requests for comment . The developers said they had achieved `` a peaceful conclusion '' to the dispute . Not for Myaeung , who has been homeless and protesting at the lake site since his ouster . `` I want to live here in this same place . It 's the place that gave me happiness and security , '' Myaeung says . The Khmer Rouge regime banned private land ownership . When the Khmer Rouge lost power , many Cambodians resettled on plots of land wherever they could and essentially became `` squatters . '' House and land titles were a distant notion . Rebuilding lives was the priority . In 2001 , Cambodia passed a land law that allowed any Cambodian living peacefully on a piece of land for five years to apply for a land title . In 2002 , the World Bank undertook several land titling projects to help Cambodians obtain legal ownership of their land . Countries like Canada , Germany and Finland contributed to these projects which resulted in more than a million land titles being issued . But the World Bank did not follow through on the land titling project around Beoung Kak Lake and in an inspection report , the World Bank later admitted to `` shortcomings . '' `` The problem is a lot of Cambodians were excluded from the land titling projects if powerful people wanted that land , '' says David Pred of Bridges Beyond Borders Cambodia . `` They were excluded because in the end , it 's the government itself that issues the land titles . '' The protestors have made some progress through making noise . The World Bank has suspended loans to Cambodia until the government resolves the situation . Cambodia 's prime minister got involved and signed a subdecree that allowed several families on 12.44 hectares of land around the lake to remain . Still , the majority of residents feel this is an injustice that is a long way from being resolved . They 've been protesting in front of Phnom Penh City Hall on a regular basis . One displaced resident who moved to the relocation site designated by the developer says , `` It 's difficult . It 's far from the city so it 's hard to do business . For this development project , people were forced away like cattle . ''
A property dispute of land near central Phnom Penh pits residents against developers . Since the Khmer Rouge regime , property records in Cambodia are sketchy . The World Bank has suspended loans to Cambodia over the land dispute .