Sam Bith as a government army general after his defection from the KR in 1997
Sam Bith during his arrestFormer Khmer Rouge commander dies while serving life sentence for foreigners' murder
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Sam Bith, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla commander serving a life sentence for masterminding the abduction and murder of three Western tourists nearly 14 years ago, died Friday, a government spokesman said. He was 74 years old.
Sam Bith was sentenced to life in prison in December 2002 after being found guilty of conspiring to kill Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet in 1994. The victims were young men traveling as tourists in the country.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith announced that Sam Bith died at 9:30 p.m., without disclosing a cause of death. Sam Bith's wife, Khem Ri, said he had been "very sick" with diabetes and high blood pressure and had been taken to Calmette Hospital 10 days earlier.
Sam Bith had served as a Khmer Rouge commander in southwestern Cambodia, where a train carrying the three foreign backpackers was ambushed on July 26, 1994.
About a dozen Cambodians were also killed and many others injured in the armed attack by Khmer Rouge rebels at Phnom Voar, or Vine Mountain, which is 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh.
The rebels held Wilson, Slater and Braquet under miserable conditions, killing the foreigners three months afterward when protracted government negotiations for their release failed.
Two other former Khmer Rouge field commanders — Nuon Paet and Chhouk Rin — are currently serving life sentences for their involvement in the murders.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in 1975-79, implementing radical communist policies that led to the death of some 1.7 million people through starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
After being ousted from power, its leaders fled into the jungle to fight a guerrilla war until the late 1990s, when they defected to the government en masse.
By the late 1990s the guerrilla group had become undisciplined, and many commanders acted like local warlords or bandit leaders.
Sam Bith defected from the Khmer Rouge to join the government in 1997 and received a general's rank in the Cambodian army.
But he was arrested in May 2002 after being implicated by another former Khmer Rouge official in the killings.
In convicting Sam Bith in 2002, a judge said he had given an order to his subordinates on Sept. 28, 1994 to kill the foreigners.
Sam Bith had pleaded innocent and claimed in court he had already been relieved of his position as a regional commander by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot weeks before the train ambush. Pol Pot died in 1998, just before the communist group collapsed in 1999.
He also told the court that he would not live long due to his health problems, which included a tumor on his back as well as high blood pressure and diabetes.
His life sentence was upheld by the Appeals Court in December 2006.
His 56-year-old widow Khem Ri told The Associated Press she plans to take his body for a funeral at her home village in Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia, but does not have money to pay the transport costs. She said she would appeal for help from the government.
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Sam Bith, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla commander serving a life sentence for masterminding the abduction and murder of three Western tourists nearly 14 years ago, died Friday, a government spokesman said. He was 74 years old.
Sam Bith was sentenced to life in prison in December 2002 after being found guilty of conspiring to kill Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet in 1994. The victims were young men traveling as tourists in the country.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith announced that Sam Bith died at 9:30 p.m., without disclosing a cause of death. Sam Bith's wife, Khem Ri, said he had been "very sick" with diabetes and high blood pressure and had been taken to Calmette Hospital 10 days earlier.
Sam Bith had served as a Khmer Rouge commander in southwestern Cambodia, where a train carrying the three foreign backpackers was ambushed on July 26, 1994.
About a dozen Cambodians were also killed and many others injured in the armed attack by Khmer Rouge rebels at Phnom Voar, or Vine Mountain, which is 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh.
The rebels held Wilson, Slater and Braquet under miserable conditions, killing the foreigners three months afterward when protracted government negotiations for their release failed.
Two other former Khmer Rouge field commanders — Nuon Paet and Chhouk Rin — are currently serving life sentences for their involvement in the murders.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in 1975-79, implementing radical communist policies that led to the death of some 1.7 million people through starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
After being ousted from power, its leaders fled into the jungle to fight a guerrilla war until the late 1990s, when they defected to the government en masse.
By the late 1990s the guerrilla group had become undisciplined, and many commanders acted like local warlords or bandit leaders.
Sam Bith defected from the Khmer Rouge to join the government in 1997 and received a general's rank in the Cambodian army.
But he was arrested in May 2002 after being implicated by another former Khmer Rouge official in the killings.
In convicting Sam Bith in 2002, a judge said he had given an order to his subordinates on Sept. 28, 1994 to kill the foreigners.
Sam Bith had pleaded innocent and claimed in court he had already been relieved of his position as a regional commander by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot weeks before the train ambush. Pol Pot died in 1998, just before the communist group collapsed in 1999.
He also told the court that he would not live long due to his health problems, which included a tumor on his back as well as high blood pressure and diabetes.
His life sentence was upheld by the Appeals Court in December 2006.
His 56-year-old widow Khem Ri told The Associated Press she plans to take his body for a funeral at her home village in Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia, but does not have money to pay the transport costs. She said she would appeal for help from the government.
5 comments:
Inevitably, more detained KR ideologists will not have a chance to face the tribunal verdict due to the deteriorating of their health.
see we have to wait till they all dead and judge them! What is the picture here? is this not the government killing them off indirectly!
This is shite!
so did 2 millions or so cambodians under their stupid rule! go to hell!
I told you so... (with my previous comment)when he was admited the most infamous and notorious ruling party hospital.
Old comment (from previous post):
I'm certain that the director of the hospital will undoubtedly put him to sleep (slowly) for good.
This is the wrong hospital to go to begin with.
THERE ARE SO MANY KILLERS IN UNIFORM, LIKE SAM BITH, IN CURRENT GOVERNMENT.
1-TO AVOID CONVICTION AND KILLED BY PEOPLE'S REVENGE.
2-OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE.
3-BE USED BY THIS GOVERNMENT FORE MORE ABUSE OVER CAMBODIANS.
fORMER KING HAS TO DO SOMETHING POSSIBLE FOR CAMBODIANS TO CLEAR HIS BAD REPUTATION AND USED BY THIS GOVERNMENT IN CAMBODIA.
MOTHERLAND LOVER
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