King Sihamoni and Queen Mother Donate to Sunday’s Victims

Two days after the killing of an unarmed man near Phnom Penh’s Monivong Bridge, officials on Tuesday offered little information on the progress of an investigation into the killing, and rights workers expressed concerns that the inquiry would lack credibility. King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath on Tuesday donated $2,000 to the family of the slain man, Mao Sok Chan, 29, who was shot in the head during a traffic jam near Monivong Bridge as thousands of people returned home from an opposition CNRP demonstration in Phnom Penh on Sunday evening. Relatives of Mao Sok Chan said he was an innocent victim and had nothing to do with a group of youth who, frustrated at being caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours due to myriad police roadblocks throughout the city on Sunday, vented their anger by throwing stones at police. King Sihamoni and the Queen Mother also donated $500, and other supplies, to each of 10 other victims injured in the violence around Monivong Bridge, according to a letter posted on the King’s official website. … Military police spokesman Brigadier General Kheng Tito said Tuesday that an investigation was under way into the shooting death and injuries, but he played down any notion that the authorities, including military police and riot police who witnesses said opened fire with live bullets, could have been responsible for the death of Mao Sok Chan. … U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi, who will next week appear before the Human Rights Council in Geneva to discuss Cambodia’s human rights record, said by email that he was “concerned by the violent clashes and the use of live firearms.” “I urge all sides to exercise maximum restraint, resolve the issues peacefully and respect people’s right to peaceful assembly,” he said.