Mystery Surrounds SEZ Triple Shooting Case

Confusion continued to swirl around the fate of Bavet city Governor Chhuk Bundith yesterday after the Interior Ministry last week identified him as the sole suspect in the Feb. 20 triple shooting of protesters at a special economic zone (SEZ). While human rights groups claimed yesterday that the governor had been arrested by police on Friday, but was quickly released, provincial and Interior Ministry officials denied that the governor had been detained or questioned. “It is not true what the NGO claims that he was arrested in Romeas Hek district; there was no arrest,” said Chum Rei, the district’s police chief. … Representatives at local rights group Licadho and the Community Legal Education Center said a Svay Rieng provincial police source had informed them that Mr. Bundith had been arrested on Friday afternoon near the Vietnamese border while attempting to leave the country. …