Saturday, August 02, 2008

Cambodia calls in FBI to help find journalist's killer

Sat, 02 Aug 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia has called on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help find the killer of an opposition journalist and his son, who were gunned down last month during the the national election campaign, a government spokesman said Saturday. Police General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Interior Minister Sar Kheng, in the interests of transparency, had decided Friday to call in the FBI over the slaying of Khim Sambo.

"We want this to be public knowledge," Khieu Sopheak said.

The July 12 double slaying of 47-year-old Khim Sambo, a journalist for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer, and his teenaged son Khat Sarinpheata brought international condemnation.

Although the government has denied any knowledge of the killings, its questionable human-rights record has made it the target of suspicion from groups including the SRP - the second political party in the country - and New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The FBI also investigated a 1997 grenade attack on an SRP rally in which at least 16 people were killed and SRP leader Sam Rainsy sustained minor injuries. The culprits are still at large.

The ruling Cambodian People's Party won a landslide victory in Sunday's elections, but opposition groups have cited the killings, claiming they could have intimidated voters - a claim the government has angrily denied.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is good to see RGC has called for the murder of those recent slaying.

I believe that the perpetraters are very well calculted, thus the RGC has not been able to find killer/killers.

Neang SA

Anonymous said...

It sounds good from the start.
Justice will lay RGC to find a real killer, not artificial one like BOUN SAMNANG.

Hope there must be punishment on the one who is behind the stage.

Anonymous said...

Will there be any difference with the FBI investigation???? FBI is popular in name and prestigous anywhere except in Cambodia. What a JOKE!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The only time when the FBI with the DOJ, Department of Justice, can probe into the allegation (s) of crimes in which the Unted States citizen (s) is believed the crimes or complicity being perpetrated by its citizen (s), or the crimes or complicity were perpetrated against its (US)citizen (s).