No Results in Protest Shooting Investigations
At 10 a.m. on January 3, about 2,000 members of the security forces, mostly military police, advanced down Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Street, spraying AK-47 assault rifle fire into a crowd of about 100 protesters who had been throwing stones and crude Molotov cocktails. … The military police left five protesting garment factory workers dead, at least 40 injured by bullets, and 13 more beaten and then imprisoned in a maximum-security prison in Kompong Cham province where they have been denied bail ahead of their trial, a date for which has not yet been set. Now, one month after the killings of the five protesters, which were condemned by human rights groups and the U.N., a military police official said Monday that there has been no progress in their investigation into who among their ranks fired those lethal shots, or who gave the orders to open fire. … On January 7, Brig. Gen. Tito said that military police “never shoot at a target to take a life,” adding that any investigation of the January 3 killings would not be into the role of military police, but into the role of the “inciters” who led the protest. … Thirty international union federations and major brands, including Wal-Mart and Gap, sent a letter directly to Prime Minister Hun Sen on January 17 expressing “grave concern” over the shootings. … Two bystanders were also killed by military police and national police gunfire, and many more wounded, during protests near the Monivong Bridge in September and in Meanchey district in November. No apparent progress has been made in those killings either, despite claims by police and military police to be investigating both. On January 12, Mr. Hun Sen announced the creation of a committee, headed by Interior Minister Sar Kheng, to “study” what happened on Veng Sreng Street. … And though the government has made no headway in its investigation of the indiscriminate killings of protesters and bystanders, and the wounding of others, it has seen fit to reward the police and military police who suffered mostly minor injuries during recent protests. During a ceremony on Thursday, according to the Khmer-language daily newspaper Koh Santepheap, 29 military police officers and 16 national police officers were each given about $200 for their service during recent protests on behalf of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife, Bun Rany. …
Khuon Narim and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-results-in-protest-shooting-investigations-51325/
