Fisheries officials summoned by the court for the murder of 3 Vietnamese

Tuesday, May 08, 2007
By Duong Sokha
Cambodge Soir
Unofficial translation from French by Tola Ek

Click here to read Cambodge Soir’s original article in French

“Those who shot were fisheries officials, and these Vietnamese were simple fishermen ... we wish that the Cambodian authorities conduct a serious investigation and that the law is applied on these officials” - Trinh Ba Cam, VN embassy spokesman, who is suddenly available to talk, but was never available to discuss about Khmer Krom issues in Vietnam in the past.

The prosecutor of the Pursat court would have asked the judge to issue a summon for the fisheries officials suspected of involvement in the 23 April shooting which killed 3 Vietnamese fishermen. A young couple and a 21-year-old man were killed by the bullets when a group of fisheries officials caught them by surprise trying to cast their nets in the protected zone which is prohibited from fishing. However, since then, the fisheries officials have all fled.

“After the incident, the prosecutor told me that he conducted an investigation on the spot and he identified 5 officials involved in the shooting. Even if the fishermen committed a crime, they should have been arrested, but not subjected to violence,” Nhuong Samroeun, an investigator for Licadho, said. Tup Chansereyvuth, the prosecutor in the case, declined to comment on this affair. “If you want to know more, come to Pursat,” he simply said. Following the incident, relatives of the victims went to burn the building of the fisheries district department office. A brother of the dead couple was arrested by the Kompong Luong commune authorities and he is now under temporary detention by the provincial justice department for criminal arson, and the destruction of properties belonging to others.

Trinh Ba Cam, the Vietnamese embassy spokesman, confided yesterday that officials from the embassy, in collaboration with the local authorities and the Ministry of Interior, went to the spot to investigate. “Those who shot were fisheries officials, and these Vietnamese were simple fishermen. It is a regrettable act, and we wish that the Cambodian authorities conduct a serious investigation and that the law is applied on these officials,” the Vietnamese diplomat said.

Nao Thourk, the director of the fisheries department, assured earlier that his officials denied being the shooters, and he also announced that he would bring lawsuit against these illegal fishermen, as well as those who burnt the fisheries office. When contacted yesterday, he said that he cannot provide an answer because he was busy in a meeting.