Heng Pov (Photo: Koh Santepheap)The following is a transcript of the statement issued by Heng Pov on 18 September 2006. A copy of the original statement in PDF format can be found by clicking here (Adobe Acrobat required).
What I know about the Death of Sok Setha Mony
In my last statement, I set out details about what I know of the death of Sok Setha Mony.
Shortly after the judge was killed, I recall that there were rumours about the coincidence of the justice reform that I proposed and his death. He was killed just after the justice reform was announced, but there had been no formal allegations against me that I was responsible for the killing until January 2006.
On 25 December 2005, Hoc Lundy openly declared war against me at a meeting. He vowed that he would have me stood down from my position and that he would melt me like water. This was announced in newspapers and everybody in Phnom-Penh knew about it!
On 11 January 2006, I was stood down from the position of Police Commissioner of Phnom Penh and given a national promotion to be the undersecretary of the State of the Ministry of Interior.
About 2 weeks later, 12 of the Phnom Penh police were arrested including one of my close associates Ly Rasy and his subordinate Hang Vuthy. They were charged with killing of Sok Setha Mony, and attempted murder of the Military police commander Sao Sokha and the court prosecutor Ok Savuth and the killing of Mrs Doueng Sophaep, a business woman.
Those people were kept in the Ministry of Interior for a week and tortured by the people of Mo Chito and Hoc Lundy. I could not do anything to save them. Being the undersecretary, I had no authority whatsoever. I was not even provided an office in the Ministry.
It was not until March 2006 that they were allowed access to a lawyer and their lawyer subsequently told me that these 12 people were forced to say under torture that I was responsible for those killings or attempted murders.
I went to see Hun Sen about this. He told me not to worry about it. He said that unless he personally ordered for my arrest, nobody else could touch me. He said that he would tell Hoc Lundy not to do it. He protected me because he knew that I had nothing to do with those incidents and that he himself had issue with Hoc Lundy.
Around the same time, I was told by one of Hun Sen's close friends that Hun Sen was suspicious of me and he believed that I had been communicating with the opposition parties behind his back.
In late June/early July Hun, Sen confronted me asking me whether it was true that I had been privately liaising with the opposition parties and the human rights organizations. He said that he would be very unhappy if I had. I had to deny it at the time. Since I was warned by his friend, I had been very careful and attempted to suspend all communications with the opposition parties. I think Hun Sen found out after I left for Malaysia that I continued to have communications with the opposition parties. This resulted in him taking the action against me by standing me down. One of the the opposition activists who helped with the communications seems to have disapeared.
I did not kill Sok Setha Many nor do I know who actually killed him. There have been different theories about it though. I conducted the investigation as part of my duties when somebody was killed. I found out that he had made a lot of enemies in his life. Just prior to my completing the investigation, the military police informed me that they had found the killers who were linked to the CFF.
I queried their finding and told them what I discovered about the judge's private life, they said that it had nothing to do with his death and confirmed that the killers were the CFF.
The military police are independent of my Department and they were more powerful than my Department, I had no right to question their finding or have it reviewed.
I reported my concern to Hoc Lundy. He said to me that since the Military Police had done the investigation and released their finding, don't worry about it any more. He asked me to close the file.
The truth is that I had never had much dealing with Sok Setha Mony, but I respected him and I had no issue with him. One of the accusations against me was that I went to see the judge one day before his death and asked him to reverse a decision. That was rubbish. I never had the need to ask any judge to reverse a decision. The justice reform that I proposed was for the purpose of eradicating the corruption in the legal system. It would go totally against my principle to try to influence the decision of the judiciary. There was no reason why I wanted the judge killed. In fact the accusation is based on an anonymous letter undated which I have a copy oft!!
People might query why I chose not go back to Cambodia to defend myself in court if I were innocent. Going back to Cambodia to face its justice system is really not an option. In Cambodia, one cannot get justice when it comes to matters involving senior ranking government officials such as Hun Sen and Hoc Lundy. There is no government transparency. They would have me killed before I was able to front up the court. Furthermore, with the corruption being part of the court system, I doubt that I would get a good hearing/trial in court.
I categorically deny the charges that have been brought against me. I have never committed the crimes that they accused me of. Anybody who has lived in or have a real knowledge about Cambodia would know that those accusations are politically motivated. They are there as propaganda to influence the public opinion and to cover up the wrongdoings on their part. I would be prepared to go to a trial for the accusations they have now made against me in any other court system except in Cambodia or Vietnam. You can easily buy a conviction under the Cambodian justice system. This has been borne out by the outcome of today's trial in abstentia - I am not a bit surprised about the result. I feel pitty for Hun Sen and Hoc Lundy who seems so desperate to cover their track. If they were innocent, they did not have to do what they did. The desperate attempt by them to try me on the trumped up charges only goes to show that they really has something to hide. It worries them that I will reveal everything that they have done to Cambodia and to the Cambodian people. I firmly believe that justice will prevail at the end of the day. The world will know soon who is right and who is wrong.
Heng Pov
18 September 2006
What I know about the Death of Sok Setha Mony
In my last statement, I set out details about what I know of the death of Sok Setha Mony.
Shortly after the judge was killed, I recall that there were rumours about the coincidence of the justice reform that I proposed and his death. He was killed just after the justice reform was announced, but there had been no formal allegations against me that I was responsible for the killing until January 2006.
On 25 December 2005, Hoc Lundy openly declared war against me at a meeting. He vowed that he would have me stood down from my position and that he would melt me like water. This was announced in newspapers and everybody in Phnom-Penh knew about it!
On 11 January 2006, I was stood down from the position of Police Commissioner of Phnom Penh and given a national promotion to be the undersecretary of the State of the Ministry of Interior.
About 2 weeks later, 12 of the Phnom Penh police were arrested including one of my close associates Ly Rasy and his subordinate Hang Vuthy. They were charged with killing of Sok Setha Mony, and attempted murder of the Military police commander Sao Sokha and the court prosecutor Ok Savuth and the killing of Mrs Doueng Sophaep, a business woman.
Those people were kept in the Ministry of Interior for a week and tortured by the people of Mo Chito and Hoc Lundy. I could not do anything to save them. Being the undersecretary, I had no authority whatsoever. I was not even provided an office in the Ministry.
It was not until March 2006 that they were allowed access to a lawyer and their lawyer subsequently told me that these 12 people were forced to say under torture that I was responsible for those killings or attempted murders.
I went to see Hun Sen about this. He told me not to worry about it. He said that unless he personally ordered for my arrest, nobody else could touch me. He said that he would tell Hoc Lundy not to do it. He protected me because he knew that I had nothing to do with those incidents and that he himself had issue with Hoc Lundy.
Around the same time, I was told by one of Hun Sen's close friends that Hun Sen was suspicious of me and he believed that I had been communicating with the opposition parties behind his back.
In late June/early July Hun, Sen confronted me asking me whether it was true that I had been privately liaising with the opposition parties and the human rights organizations. He said that he would be very unhappy if I had. I had to deny it at the time. Since I was warned by his friend, I had been very careful and attempted to suspend all communications with the opposition parties. I think Hun Sen found out after I left for Malaysia that I continued to have communications with the opposition parties. This resulted in him taking the action against me by standing me down. One of the the opposition activists who helped with the communications seems to have disapeared.
I did not kill Sok Setha Many nor do I know who actually killed him. There have been different theories about it though. I conducted the investigation as part of my duties when somebody was killed. I found out that he had made a lot of enemies in his life. Just prior to my completing the investigation, the military police informed me that they had found the killers who were linked to the CFF.
I queried their finding and told them what I discovered about the judge's private life, they said that it had nothing to do with his death and confirmed that the killers were the CFF.
The military police are independent of my Department and they were more powerful than my Department, I had no right to question their finding or have it reviewed.
I reported my concern to Hoc Lundy. He said to me that since the Military Police had done the investigation and released their finding, don't worry about it any more. He asked me to close the file.
The truth is that I had never had much dealing with Sok Setha Mony, but I respected him and I had no issue with him. One of the accusations against me was that I went to see the judge one day before his death and asked him to reverse a decision. That was rubbish. I never had the need to ask any judge to reverse a decision. The justice reform that I proposed was for the purpose of eradicating the corruption in the legal system. It would go totally against my principle to try to influence the decision of the judiciary. There was no reason why I wanted the judge killed. In fact the accusation is based on an anonymous letter undated which I have a copy oft!!
People might query why I chose not go back to Cambodia to defend myself in court if I were innocent. Going back to Cambodia to face its justice system is really not an option. In Cambodia, one cannot get justice when it comes to matters involving senior ranking government officials such as Hun Sen and Hoc Lundy. There is no government transparency. They would have me killed before I was able to front up the court. Furthermore, with the corruption being part of the court system, I doubt that I would get a good hearing/trial in court.
I categorically deny the charges that have been brought against me. I have never committed the crimes that they accused me of. Anybody who has lived in or have a real knowledge about Cambodia would know that those accusations are politically motivated. They are there as propaganda to influence the public opinion and to cover up the wrongdoings on their part. I would be prepared to go to a trial for the accusations they have now made against me in any other court system except in Cambodia or Vietnam. You can easily buy a conviction under the Cambodian justice system. This has been borne out by the outcome of today's trial in abstentia - I am not a bit surprised about the result. I feel pitty for Hun Sen and Hoc Lundy who seems so desperate to cover their track. If they were innocent, they did not have to do what they did. The desperate attempt by them to try me on the trumped up charges only goes to show that they really has something to hide. It worries them that I will reveal everything that they have done to Cambodia and to the Cambodian people. I firmly believe that justice will prevail at the end of the day. The world will know soon who is right and who is wrong.
Heng Pov
18 September 2006
8 comments:
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
No body care we Cambodia is still live under modern kind of Pol pot regime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't try to clean yourself, Heng Pov!!!!! you are a killer, Hok Lundy, and Hun Sen are the same boat. You are all deserve to be in 18th level of Hell.
Please do not assume everyone the same. I support Heng Pov 100%. As a powerfull police chef in Phnom Penh and have 1 millions dollars in his bank account is nothing in Cambodia. Heng Pov is a victim of two scenarios.
-Heng Pov was too agressive in fighting with drugs in Cambodia. so he has a lot of enemis with all leading CPP figures of businessmen and politicians.
-Heng Pov was a right hand of Sar Kheng. Hun Sen wants to destroy Sar Kheng chance to be Prime Minister. Therefore, he has to destroy all Sar Kheng Supporter.
All Khmers around the world should work together to keep this issue alive in the international domain. Good chances are hard to come by to bring the crimes committed by those powerful mafias out into the open. We cannot expect other countries to help us entirely without any efforts on our part.
Heng Pov's past is irrelevant, as we all know too well what one must do to remain in the mafia system. That's why people like Heng Pov would be put on the witness protection programme in the U.S. and given a new identity as long as they agreed to testify against the powerful criminals in court. He is our only chance to put those criminals in the spotlight.
Other countries may not be able to prosecute them, but international authorities will look at these accused criminals with suspicion when they travel abroad. Who know, other countries may decide to freeze the bank accounts belonging to these powerful mafias and their families. Only time will tell. United we stand.
I believe you, HENG Pov!
As you are one of SAR Kheng's supporter, HUN Sen and Ah HOK Longdy want to destroy you and your subordinate.
Though SAR Kheng is the minister, he has no power as ah Kdy.
Now your close subordinate, LY Rasy, is shackled on his ankles and he is tortured because ah MOK Chito and ah Kdy want him die.
The democratic countries and human right organizations, please investigate this problem.
To keep it alive, we must eliminate the Norodumb.
There are a lot of good people inside the CPP..The former PNH mayor, Heng Pov, etc. Unfortunately they are being sidelined right now. The world community must protect them. Appeal also be made to those Khmer patriots within the CPP, don't be like Kheo Samphann, Neun Chea, and other top Khmer Rouge leaders who 20 years later claimed that their only mistake was that they never visited the base people and didn't know the killings and the suffering of the people...
That's the funniest thing about
Heng Pov and Cambodian Gov.. this is a confrontation gang to gang ..
Cambodian Gov is stongly control country as like Hun Sen himself said He know everything Happen ... why Heng Pov is stil in position .. Ministry of interior should arrest him .. after He left country .. accussing him is criminal .. smart government
- Poeple starvation
- Mass corruption
- Violation of land
- who are violated law .. rich men
- Cambodian Gov beg .. rich country every year .. since 1993
.........
......
more and more
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