Trio charged with killing Hun Sun's brother-in-law

Trio charged with killing Hun Sun's brother-in-law

PHNOM PENH (AFP): Three members of Cambodia's leading
opposition party have been arrested and charged with the unsolved
murder of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's brother-in-law, court
officials said yesterday.

The trio, allegedly members of dissident Sam Rainsy's
unrecognized Khmer Nation Party (KNP), were charged Monday with
the murder of Khov Samuth according to officials and court
documents.

Khov Samuth, a senior interior ministry official and the
husband of Hun Sen's wife's sister, was gunned down outside a
popular Phnom Penh restaurant on Nov. 19.

The three were named as Srun Vong Vannak, 30, head of KNP
security, Prum Meanrith, 37, alleged to be Sam Rainsy's military
adviser and Sos Kasem, 26, alleged to be a member of KNP's
security detail.

Sam Rainsy could confirm only that Srun Vong Vannak was a
member of the party. He said the other two were not known to him
and he also denied he had a military adviser.

"The two names do not ring any bells with me, but they might
be members," he said, noting that the KNP had more than 220,000
members at the moment.

Details of the evidence against the three men were not
immediately available but court officials said a police press
conference had been scheduled for today to elaborate on the
charges.

Sam Rainsy said the arrest of his security chief was against
criminal procedures as Srun Vong Vannak has been missing since
Feb. 10.

He said he believed that Srun Vong Vannak had been in illegal
detention for most, if not all, of the time he was missing.

An initial investigation into the murder of Khov Samuth failed
to produce any suspects though Hun Sen said the killing appeared
to be politically motivated.

The murder occurred just three days after a group of alleged
underground Khmer Rouge terrorists, speaking to reporters at Hun
Sen's home, accused the royalist FUNCINPEC party of conspiring to
cover up links between the KNP and the Khmer Rouge guerrilla
faction.

Hun Sen, the leader of the formerly communist Cambodian
People's Party, FUNCINPEC's main rival and partner in the current
coalition government, charged after the murder that
responsibility lay with "certain politicians".

FUNCINPEC president and First Prime Minister Prince Norodom
Ranariddh angrily denied the alleged terrorists' claims as did
KNP president Sam Rainsy.