Five months on, witnesses recall Muon Sokmean’s beating
Muon Sokmean, a 29-year-old garment worker, scrambled off Veng Sreng Street on January 3 with military police in violent pursuit, brandishing their batons. What had been a militant protest for a $160 minimum wage in the garment sector—with many protesters lobbing rocks and crude Molotov cocktails at military police—had devolved into a pitched battle on one of Phnom Penh’s main industrial boulevards. … On Saturday, Muon Sokmean passed away from the injuries he sustained on Veng Sreng Street, according to his family. The spokesman for the military police, however, said on Sunday that there is no evidence proving that his forces caused what would be the sixth fatality from the crackdown—five others were shot dead by military police. … Brigadier General Kheng Tito, spokesman for the military police, said Monday that an investigation into Muon Sokmean’s death would only be launched if a complaint is filed by his family. “If there is no complaint, there will be no investigation,” he said. But Ms. Heam said she is too afraid to file a complaint against the same forces that she believes brutally ended her husband’s life.
Mech Dara and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-months-on-witnesses-recall-muon-sokmeans-beating-59115/
