Hun Sen Reinstates Ho Sok Suspects
Written by Jason Barber and Chea Sotheacheath
Friday, 10 October 1997
(Phnom Penh Post) HUN SEN personally signed an order reinstating three police generals suspended from their positions in connection with the execution of Funcinpec stalwart Ho Sok, officials have confirmed.The Second Prime Minister was requested to issue the order by the Director-General of the National Police, General Hok Lundy, who has been accused of participating in the killing.Co-Ministers of Interior Sar Kheng and You Hockry did not sign the document. It was signed by Hun Sen in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), before his Sept 22 departure for a trip abroad.
Sources said the situation has raised tensions over the lines of authority between Sar Kheng and Hok Lundy, who are both senior CPP members, and the power of the Prime Minister to override his Minister.
Sar Kheng, contacted by telephone Oct 7, said: "I did not oppose that [the generals' reinstatement], but I would have liked to keep them [suspended] for a little longer while we are investigating.
"But now they have already been released... the story is over and I should not say more on that, to avoid any further problem in the future."Earlier, Sar Kheng - in what observers interpreted as a sign of unhappiness at Hun Sen and Hok Lundy undermining his authority - reportedly went on public record as saying that he knows who killed Ho Sok.
"We have learned the identity of the killer," Sar Kheng reportedly told the Cambodia Daily newspaper Sept 23, the day after Hun Sen left Cambodia. "I hope that the killer will be arrested soon," Sar Kheng was quoted as saying. He declined to name the suspect, saying: "You don't want to know such a sensitive thing."
Sar Kheng, subsequently contacted by the Post, claimed that he had said no such thing. "I don't know who the killer is. If I knew the killers, I would arrest them immediately," he said.
But one of his aides, General Khieu Sopheak, said: "I think that His Excellency Sar Kheng said that the killer has been identified. He also said that it was too early to move, that we have to let the police complete the investigation.
"Khieu Sopheak confirmed that the three Ministry of Interior generals suspended after the killing had been reinstated by order of "the high Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, a four-star general, Samdech Hun Sen".
He said that Hun Sen had signed the order at the request of Hok Lundy, who had submitted a report to the Prime Minister explaining that "the three generals were not involved...in the killing".
Asked whether Sar Kheng and You Hockry had signed the reinstatement order themselves, Khieu Sopheak said there was no need for them to do so. Hun Sen had already signed it, he said, and "the Ministry of Interior respects the order from the very high position of Samdech Hun Sen".
Sopheak, however, denied that the approval of Hun Sen would be required before an arrest could be made in the Ho Sok case. "This is a criminal offense case; there is no need to ask the approval of the Commander-in-Chief, only the court."
Another senior police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not so sure.
Asked whether Sar Kheng would pursue an arrest, the official replied: "In Cambodia, a Minister does not have full authority... he could be over-ruled by a Prime Minister, for example."
The official also referred to blurred lines of power between Hok Lundy and Sar Kheng, asking: "If the Director-General [of the National Police] has the rank of Minister, what are the lines of authority?"
After the July 5-6 fighting in Phnom Penh, in which he played an active role, Lundy was appointed an advisor - with the rank of Minister - to the co-Prime Ministers. Sar Kheng and Hok Lundy therefore hold the same rank, though Sar Kheng also holds the position of Deputy Prime Minister. However, under a decree passed in late 1995, the Ministry of Interior's security forces are under the ultimate control of the co-Commanders-in-Chief of RCAF - the Prime Ministers. Sources said that it was under this decree, in one of the first times that it has been used, that Hun Sen ordered the generals' reinstatement.
Hok Lundy is a known close ally of Hun Sen, while Sar Kheng is widely considered a potential rival to the Second Prime Minister within the CPP. Ho Sok - the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Interior and one of several Funcinpec officials accused by CPP of illegally bringing weapons and troops to Phnom Penh - was shot dead at the ministry's Phnom Penh headquarters after being captured by CPP forces July 7.
As pressure mounted on the government to bring those responsible to justice, three CPP police generals - Ma Chhoeun, in whose office Ho Sok was killed, his deputy Tharn Im and Thong Lim, the director of the ministry's criminal investigation department - were indefinitely suspended. The suspensions were ordered July 24 by Sar Kheng and his co-Minister, You Hockry (Funcinpec), who also established a team to investigate the murder.
Hok Lundy - who has previously denied any involvement in the killing - said Oct 7 that the generals' reinstatement had been proposed by the investigation team. "In fact, the generals have no fault," he said by telephone. "Their mistake was just not providing security to protect Ho Sok from being killed... [they] did not order someone to kill Ho Sok."
Asked if the killer was known, Hok Lundy said the Post should ask the head of the investigation team, Luy Savun, a Funcinpec police officer. Savun declined to comment to the Post.
There have been persistent rumors that Ho Sok was killed by Hok Lundy or by the police chief's bodyguards, culminating in a public accusation by Julio Jeldres, the King's official biographer. In a Sept 9 letter to the Post, Jeldres claimed that information from an unidentified witness to Ho Sok's murder implicated Hok Lundy in the killing. CPP officials who denied that Hok Lundy killed Ho Sok were being "economical with the truth," Jeldres wrote.
Ho Sok's widow, now in exile in Thailand, has written to the UN Secretary-General accusing Hun Sen and Hok Lundy of responsibility for her husband's murder.
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Posted By Monibuth Chheng to Editorials | Articles: at 10/10/1997
Friday, 10 October 1997
(Phnom Penh Post) HUN SEN personally signed an order reinstating three police generals suspended from their positions in connection with the execution of Funcinpec stalwart Ho Sok, officials have confirmed.The Second Prime Minister was requested to issue the order by the Director-General of the National Police, General Hok Lundy, who has been accused of participating in the killing.Co-Ministers of Interior Sar Kheng and You Hockry did not sign the document. It was signed by Hun Sen in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), before his Sept 22 departure for a trip abroad.
Sources said the situation has raised tensions over the lines of authority between Sar Kheng and Hok Lundy, who are both senior CPP members, and the power of the Prime Minister to override his Minister.
Sar Kheng, contacted by telephone Oct 7, said: "I did not oppose that [the generals' reinstatement], but I would have liked to keep them [suspended] for a little longer while we are investigating.
"But now they have already been released... the story is over and I should not say more on that, to avoid any further problem in the future."Earlier, Sar Kheng - in what observers interpreted as a sign of unhappiness at Hun Sen and Hok Lundy undermining his authority - reportedly went on public record as saying that he knows who killed Ho Sok.
"We have learned the identity of the killer," Sar Kheng reportedly told the Cambodia Daily newspaper Sept 23, the day after Hun Sen left Cambodia. "I hope that the killer will be arrested soon," Sar Kheng was quoted as saying. He declined to name the suspect, saying: "You don't want to know such a sensitive thing."
Sar Kheng, subsequently contacted by the Post, claimed that he had said no such thing. "I don't know who the killer is. If I knew the killers, I would arrest them immediately," he said.
But one of his aides, General Khieu Sopheak, said: "I think that His Excellency Sar Kheng said that the killer has been identified. He also said that it was too early to move, that we have to let the police complete the investigation.
"Khieu Sopheak confirmed that the three Ministry of Interior generals suspended after the killing had been reinstated by order of "the high Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, a four-star general, Samdech Hun Sen".
He said that Hun Sen had signed the order at the request of Hok Lundy, who had submitted a report to the Prime Minister explaining that "the three generals were not involved...in the killing".
Asked whether Sar Kheng and You Hockry had signed the reinstatement order themselves, Khieu Sopheak said there was no need for them to do so. Hun Sen had already signed it, he said, and "the Ministry of Interior respects the order from the very high position of Samdech Hun Sen".
Sopheak, however, denied that the approval of Hun Sen would be required before an arrest could be made in the Ho Sok case. "This is a criminal offense case; there is no need to ask the approval of the Commander-in-Chief, only the court."
Another senior police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not so sure.
Asked whether Sar Kheng would pursue an arrest, the official replied: "In Cambodia, a Minister does not have full authority... he could be over-ruled by a Prime Minister, for example."
The official also referred to blurred lines of power between Hok Lundy and Sar Kheng, asking: "If the Director-General [of the National Police] has the rank of Minister, what are the lines of authority?"
After the July 5-6 fighting in Phnom Penh, in which he played an active role, Lundy was appointed an advisor - with the rank of Minister - to the co-Prime Ministers. Sar Kheng and Hok Lundy therefore hold the same rank, though Sar Kheng also holds the position of Deputy Prime Minister. However, under a decree passed in late 1995, the Ministry of Interior's security forces are under the ultimate control of the co-Commanders-in-Chief of RCAF - the Prime Ministers. Sources said that it was under this decree, in one of the first times that it has been used, that Hun Sen ordered the generals' reinstatement.
Hok Lundy is a known close ally of Hun Sen, while Sar Kheng is widely considered a potential rival to the Second Prime Minister within the CPP. Ho Sok - the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Interior and one of several Funcinpec officials accused by CPP of illegally bringing weapons and troops to Phnom Penh - was shot dead at the ministry's Phnom Penh headquarters after being captured by CPP forces July 7.
As pressure mounted on the government to bring those responsible to justice, three CPP police generals - Ma Chhoeun, in whose office Ho Sok was killed, his deputy Tharn Im and Thong Lim, the director of the ministry's criminal investigation department - were indefinitely suspended. The suspensions were ordered July 24 by Sar Kheng and his co-Minister, You Hockry (Funcinpec), who also established a team to investigate the murder.
Hok Lundy - who has previously denied any involvement in the killing - said Oct 7 that the generals' reinstatement had been proposed by the investigation team. "In fact, the generals have no fault," he said by telephone. "Their mistake was just not providing security to protect Ho Sok from being killed... [they] did not order someone to kill Ho Sok."
Asked if the killer was known, Hok Lundy said the Post should ask the head of the investigation team, Luy Savun, a Funcinpec police officer. Savun declined to comment to the Post.
There have been persistent rumors that Ho Sok was killed by Hok Lundy or by the police chief's bodyguards, culminating in a public accusation by Julio Jeldres, the King's official biographer. In a Sept 9 letter to the Post, Jeldres claimed that information from an unidentified witness to Ho Sok's murder implicated Hok Lundy in the killing. CPP officials who denied that Hok Lundy killed Ho Sok were being "economical with the truth," Jeldres wrote.
Ho Sok's widow, now in exile in Thailand, has written to the UN Secretary-General accusing Hun Sen and Hok Lundy of responsibility for her husband's murder.
--
Posted By Monibuth Chheng to Editorials | Articles: at 10/10/1997
6 comments:
condemn Hun Sen a leader of Cambodia of war crime against humanity that have to be call to trial by International Criminal Court (ICC), and the House Resolution of the U.S congress 533 against Hun Sen's regime in Phnom Penh.
The U.S must walk the walk talk the talk,and first of all the united state government must apologize to Cambodian people for created the war in the 1970 that lead to this tragic incident,if there was no war in the 70 this monster never born and Cambodia never owed the U.S 400 million dollars in debt the money mostly for the luxury of U.S cronies.
The U.S not going to invade Cambodia for such an incident it not worth the invasion Cambodia have nothing in return, Cambodia people can rest assure it will never happen Hun Sen know it quite well , but in the worse case scenario a few guided missile will do a lot of damages especially when it hit the palace of PM Hun Sen.
Hun Sen safe for now but the life of Hun Sen after his power is over is the sad one,one must wonder if he can survive a month without the hundred of his bodyguards.
US is not going it jeapardize its relationship with Cambodia especially China is big influence in Cambodia. US rather court PM Hun Sen to trade for positive relationship. US doesn't play loosing politics.
I suggest another resolution, 533-A, as to block all Hun Sen relatives from entering the US.
Cambodia can't depend on china as the ally,look at the border incident this year at the UNSC on 24/02 if the Chinese voted against Cambodia request only Russia and France that support Cambodia, in the Hun Sen twilight years if he depends on Chinese protecting him, He is wrong. Hun Sen and his majesty the king Sihanouk is in differences calibres, Hun Sen love by the rich, his majesty the king love by the poor.
It appears Ho Sok has all documents related to Hun Sen's and Mong Reththy's drug trafficking that's why he was executed during the coup in 1997. The U.S should released all those documents or bring Hun Sen to U.S court like what America did with Manuelle Noriega of Panama in 1989.
i agree that he did bad things. just look who would be capable to rise from the ashes of year zero without doing any bad things like saling drugs or killing people. i think he should not be put on trial cus i think he do more good now than bad. but i do suggest that he should gave up his leadership to new one for srok khmer. if he dont he is going to discredit by the world and make srok khmer as a villian country and make yuon and siam as a good country( while srok khmer shrink to these countries and the world act like blind and ignorant by the world). he should retire and seat on a side line as a mentor instead and join the monarchy responsibilities for the people. but if the world doesnt understand his situation of hun sen than we should bring Kissinger and Nixon of USA and thai leaders that force khmer off the cliff and the yuon that took koh tral and khmer krom-as world cimes to for the bombing in srok khmer that kill more people in less times. if khmer dont fight for the good of khmer leader than we khmer will never have a good leader for 100 of years for our history book. when we have good leader the world is going to laugh. i ask all khmer, do you know any good khmer leaders for the last 1000 years in our history book??????why do the world see only flause in our khmer leaders???????why???????
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