Youth Gang Arrested After Deadly Grenade Attack

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 03 June 2010

“They confessed they brought with them three grenades and used one of them because he wanted revenge against a dancer with whom they had had a dispute for several months.”

Police arrested three men in the former Khmer Rouge region of Anlong Veng on Thursday, in connection with a grenade attack Tuesday night that killed one man and wounded 16 people.

The suspect, Thai Sitha, 24, is alleged to have colluded with Thoeun Sokun, 18, a former soldier, and Nul Tean, 18, in an attack that was part of a dispute between two youth gangs that began months ago, police said.

The men are accused of attacking a dance party in Oddar Meanchey province late Tuesday night, where one grenade exploded among a group of people.

“They confessed they brought with them three grenades and used one of them because he wanted revenge against a dancer with whom they had had a dispute for several months,” said Ket Sothea, a justice policeman in Anglong Veng.

Grenade blast at Cambodian New Year festival kills 1, wounds 25

2008-04-17

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - An attacker hurled a hand grenade into a crowd of people dancing at a Buddhist temple to celebrate Cambodia's traditional New Year, killing one villager and wounding 25 others, police said Thursday.

The attack, which killed a 21-year-old man, occurred Wednesday evening about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Siem Reap in western Cambodia, said Ou Em, the provincial police chief.

Many villagers had gathered at the temple for dancing to mark the last day of the traditional New Year holiday, police said.

«First, I thought it was a firecracker that exploded until I saw people with blood on them,» said Bou Nimol, a 17-year-old girl who witnessed the attack. «I just ran straight home after that.

Police said they were investigating the attack but had no immediate suspects.

Siem Reap, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh, is the site of the famed Angkor temples.

Human rights organizations investigate grenade attack in Anlong Veng

23 July 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A group of human rights organizations and the UN human rights office in Cambodia are currently conducting an investigation on the attack with explosive by unknown persons on the house of the community forest protection leader in Run village, Thlat commune, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, on Monday 23 July.

The investigation took place one day after unknown persons used explosive to try to kill a family of 6.

Chan Soveth, an investigator for the Cambodia Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), who is conducting the investigation and talking to several witnesses at the location of the incident, concludes that the use of explosive to attack the house of Sat Savuth, the community forest protection leader, is related to his community activities to protect forests, lands and to defend human rights.

Chan Soveth said: “On the authority side, they think that because the victim knew the fact in advance, he could be creating the explosion by himself. We do not come up to this conclusion, but during the incident, 4 persons were seen by the activist: two of them were standing behind and two walked into the house.”

Kong Kheng, the 35-year-old wife of Sat Savuth, claimed that people actually wanted to kill her husband because of his community work to prevent illegal land-grabbing, and illegal logging in the area.

Kong Kheng said: “I am very concerned, I couldn’t sleep and I am restless. During his work, people threatened him, they want to persecute him also.”

On Monday, the group of human rights organizations in the country had expressed their concerns about the successive killings perpetrated on human rights activists and the group demanded that the authority arrest the culprits as well as their backers and bring them to justice.

Tes Soeum, the Anglong Veng police chief, said that on Monday, the authority had identified the culprits and they will be arrested soon.

Nevertheless, Tes Soeum claimed that the explosive attack was not related to the community forest protection activities: “This is a dumb thing (perpetrated) for some (unknown) reason.”

Human rights group claimed that Sat Savuth, the 42-year-old victim of the attack to kill him, used to be a community forest protection leader in Sandan district, Kompong Thom province. Those involved in illegal logging wanted to kill him once in 2005, and when he fled to live in Anlong Veng, he continued working for the community forest and land protection for the people again.

On Monday, the human rights group decided to take Sat Savuth, his wife, and his four children out to live in a safer place.

Grenade thrown in Anlong Veng community leader’s home

22 July 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A hand-grenade was tossed by an unknown attacker into the house of the community leader for forest protection in O’Run village, Thlat commune, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, at 11:20 PM on Saturday evening. The explosion damaged the home but no one was injured or died.

42-year-old Sat Savuth, the owner of the home who claimed to be the leader of the community for forest protection, said on Sunday 22 July that, prior to the grenade attack, he was outside of his home when he saw people standing in front of his home. Alerted by this presence, he sent his wife and four children running out, subsequently, the attacker tossed the grenade inside his home.

Sat Savuth said: “I came out to go to the bathroom, I saw someone, he saw me also. I ran inside the house to grab my children and ran out for about 30-meter from the house when the explosion was heard. It did not cause any fire, but half of the wooden portion fell.”

Sat Savuth added that he suspects the grenade attack was perpetrated to kill him and his family because a small group of people are not happy with the action he took to oppose illegal logging and illegal land grabbing perpetrated by some businessmen and powerful officials.

Nevertheless, there is no source or witnesses who came forward to clarify this grenade attack case at all.

Tes Soeum, the Anlong Veng police chief, denied that this grenade attack involved any political party, or because of the forest protection activities, or because of the protection of lands belonging to the villagers.

Tes Soeum said that based on preliminary investigation, he suspects that this attack was a prank perpetrated a group of people, or a jealous attempt made by some young man who loves Sat Savuth’s daughter. “There is no political involvement. I’m only making a cursory assessment: in his house, he has a young daughter, therefore, (the young men) are after her, so maybe they are jealous of each others.”

On Sunday, the Licadho and Adhoc human rights groups in the district sent their investigators to the incident location to find out the real cause of the attack. According to Licadho, Sat Savuth was also a community leader for the protection of forests when he was living in Pren village, Sokh Chit commune, Sandan district, Kompong Thom province. While living there, businessmen involved in illegal logging tried to shoot him down once in 2005.

This is a second grenade attack in Anlong Veng district. In June, an unknown person tossed a grenade inside the house of the traffic police chief, killing one 16-year-old girl.

FBI Defends Phnom Penh Office as Rights Tool

Special Agent Thomas Fuentes, who is in charge of the FBI's overseas offices, says rights advocates should be happy to see the Bureau's new office in Phnom Penh.

Lao Mong Hay and others say the FBI's new office has legitimized a sometimes brutal and exploitive police force and could therefore worsen Cambodia's rights environment.

Brian Calvert, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
15/06/2007

[Editor's note: this is the first in a two-part series examining the FBI's new office in Phnom Penh]

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation, one of the US's leading counterterrorism agencies, christened a new office in Phnom Penh, it drew pointed rebukes from groups critical of Cambodia's grim human rights record.

Security experts say there are good reasons for the office, and a top FBI official told VOA Khmer recently that advocates should be happy to see the FBI in country. But not everyone is convinced, and the FBI's office has opened a prickly debate over the protection of human rights in an expanding war on terror.

From his office in the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, Thomas Fuentes, Special Agent in Charge of Overseas Operations for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, manages 75 offices around the world. The newest of these opened in Cambodia in March. The FBI needs a branch in Cambodia to help with regional counterterrorism and other legal efforts, Fuentes said in a recent interview. A strengthened relationship with the national police—something rights groups have been quick to censure—has been a natural byproduct of that expansion.

"The efforts we've had in the past in various investigations have been very successful, and we know that it's a partnership that we would like to have become stronger," Fuentes said.

The FBI and the Cambodian police have conducted training and investigations together, and the FBI is willing to help the national police address human trafficking and the sex trade, pervasive problems often bemoaned by human rights groups.

None of that would be possible without close cooperation with the national police, Fuentes said.

That relationship has critics worried and is at the center of a debate over how committed the US is to the promotion of human rights abroad.

"Our police and their chief haven't had [a] good reputation at all in Cambodia. They have, I think, violated human rights quite a lot over the years," said Lao Mong Hay, a Cambodian researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong.

Lao Mong Hay and others say the FBI's new office has legitimized a sometimes brutal and exploitive police force and could therefore worsen Cambodia's rights environment.

Fuentes disagrees. With a fulltime office in Cambodia, the FBI is more likely to learn of rights abuses, which could help the United States address them, he said.

"You're going to have a much better opportunity to be told of something that may be wrong or needs to be addressed," he said. "So if individuals, if various groups have concerns about what may be going on in Cambodia, they should be more supportive of the FBI being there fulltime, instead of less."

An outspoken critic of the FBI's role in Cambodia, past and present, has been Human Rights Watch.

The international group has repeatedly called for investigations into alleged crimes by National Police Chief Hok Lundy, including involvement in the 1997 grenade attack that killed at least 16 Cambodians and injured one American, as well as extrajudicial killings and human and drug trafficking.

The FBI investigated the grenade attack but released no findings implicating Hok Lundy, and the police chief has denied any involvement in the crimes. Fuentes hosted Hok Lundy in Washington in April, instantly drawing the vitriol of Human Rights Watch and others. If the FBI now engages in a "critical relationship" with the Cambodian police, the new office would be fine, said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. But such a relationship is unlikely.

"It's perfectly appropriate where there are serious international criminal syndicates, whether it's human trafficking or counterterrorism or something, to work with law enforcement authorities in any country," Adams said. "But you've got to know what you're dealing with, and here you're dealing with an extremely corrupt and violent force that has never put public safety as its first order of business, or crime solving. It's all about making money and controlling the political system."

Those concerns aside, analysts say that an expanded presence in Southeast Asia will help the US fill a regional intelligence gap.

"I think one of the reasons why the FBI has opened an office in Cambodia is because that part of mainland Southeast Asia is a big black hole," said Peter Chalk, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corporation.

Conditions in Cambodia could make it attractive to terrorists, even if they don't directly threaten Cambodians, he said.

"We haven't really seen any concerted attacks within the region, but, you know, the lawlessness of the region, a Muslim population there, porous borders, corruption, all of those factors avail a fairly conducive logistical environment" for terrorist groups, he said.

Terrorists are attracted to countries with weak rule of law, where they think they're safe, the FBI's Fuentes said. Having an office in Phnom Penh will prevent small clues to their whereabouts from slipping away.

"You know, it may be one little piece of the puzzle, but if we're getting information provided by the Cambodians, and we're getting information from the Thai and from the Indonesian national police and the Malaysians and the Australian federal police—all those little pieces may fit together to form a picture," he said.

Adams, of Human Rights Watch, said US officials must be sure they are getting true terrorists, not fall guys, from the Cambodians.

"I'm sure that [the government has] invented potential terror plots that the US is in no position to verify and wrapped them up," Adams said.

A better tactic would be bolstering Cambodia's weak judicial system and eliminating the culture of corruption that makes Cambodia so attractive to terrorists in the first place, Adams said.

"One of the reasons they say that terrorism is a threat in Cambodia is because the country is so corrupt, top to bottom, including its court system, that basically anybody can come and go in that country and buy protection and hide out there, and that's what the US was worried about," he said.

Sam Rainsy: OK to the demolition of monument for the victims of the grenade attack if the monument commemorating dead VN soldiers is also demolished

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Opposition to the demolition of monument for victims of grenade attack

Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy declared in Tuesday that his party will strongly oppose any plan to demolish a monument commemorating the victims of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack, located in a public park in front of the National Assembly. Sam Rainsy’s warning was made following a rumor indicating that the municipality of Phnom Penh plans to demolish the monument to make way for the construction of a new park, in order to improve the view in front of the National Assembly. Sam Rainsy told a group of reporters in front of the National Assembly that he will be willing to the demolition of this monument, if [the city] is willing to demolish the monument built to thank to the Vietnamese soldiers who died in Cambodia [during Vietnam’s invasion in the 80s], which is located nearby the monument for the victims of the grenade attack also. Kep Chuktema, the governor of Phnom Penh, could not be contacted regarding this issue.

US Victim of Phnom Penh Grenade Attack Threatens To Revive Suit Against Hun Sen

13 Apr 07 - 18 Apr 07
Moneakseka Khmer
Translated from Khmer and posted online

Ron Abney, an American who was injured in the grenade attack in front of the National Assembly on 30 March 1997, has been regarded by most situation monitors as a big contributor to maintaining peace and upholding the good names and honor of the Cambodian leaders, helping them to avoid leaving their reputation in the US federal court system.

In reality, regarding the case about the four-grenade attack in front of the National Assembly to disperse the democrats led by leader of Cambodia's opposition party Sam Rainsy in demanding a reform to the justice system, the culprits and mastermind have not yet been identified for prosecution.

No longer trusting the search for justice to the dead and wounded in the 30 March 1997 grenade attack incident, in October 2005 Ron Abney and Sam Rainsy together with two other Cambodian plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Hun Sen in the US federal court of New York City.

Concerning the process of suing strongman Hun Sen at the US federal court in 2005, Ron Abney explained in detail, "This case was based on a law called the Alien Tort Law, with myself as the plaintiff in my capacity as a US citizen attacked overseas who is allowed by this law to bring the case to a US court."

Ron Abney went on to explain to the media, "Sam Rainsy also joined with me at that time of the lawsuit together with a couple of other Khmer citizens. But this certainly was my idea. Therefore, I would like to inform you that this matter has not yet ended, the case has not yet been closed."

This American national said with emphasis: "I decided to withdraw the lawsuit against Hun Sen because I believed and trusted someone I knew very well who told me that Sam Rainsy would be killed if I did not drop the charges."

Ron Abney frankly said that since Sam Rainsy also filed the lawsuit against strongman Hun Sen "I believed that Sam Rainsy would never be permitted or allowed to return to Cambodia if he did not withdraw that lawsuit. I was also told that Koem Sokha's life, too, could be in danger."

It was because of all these reasons that the case has become what it is now. So that the opposition in Cambodia, no matter which group, could exist we had to withdraw the lawsuit.

This means that in order to have an opposition voice in Cambodia and also to conform to the democratic principles, Hun Sen has had to change his attitude for a while. However, because lately Hun Sen has arbitrarily been barking at the opposition party again, Ron Abney showed his personal views as follows: "If Hun Sen said so, by law I have not yet dropped my complaint; I can review and resume the lawsuit.'

Ron Abney said, "This is just a deferment of the lawsuit with no loss to any demand therein. This means that any day if I make a phone call to my lawyer he can immediately re-submit my lawsuit to the US federal court, which will issue a summons to Hun Sen. Therefore, this lawsuit is still alive."

At the same time, Ron Abney's defense attorney said that [the decision to drop the charges] was most surprising and stunning to him because no one gave him any hint about it beforehand. It was less than 24 hours after that that Sam Rainsy had returned to Cambodia.

Ron Abney claimed, "I still can sue Hun Sen and within 10 minutes this case will become a new story if I so desire. I can do it, if I want."

It should be noted that strongman Hun Sen used his oratory on 9 April to bitterly attack the opposition party, charging it of never helping to find any solution to the livelihood problems of the people and of caring only about finding a way to topple him and his Cambodian People's Party [CPP].

But, maybe Hun Sen forgot everything, for he said in January 2006 that Cambodia must have an opposition group to help the government. Not much time had passed since, and Hun Sen already revealed his dark scheme to do away with the opposition party when this power-crazy man became well aware that Sam Rainsy would become the leader of the great movement uniting all the democrats.

While Hun Sen was worried about the democrats united into a single body and following Sam Rainsy's correct path, a force which could bring great danger to his CPP, Hun Sen made this menace: "It is time for the CPP to also prepare strategy, that is, to fight back."

Realizing that this is a pressure situation for the opposition party, US citizen Ron Abney pre-warned that he "might resume the lawsuit against Hun Sen at the US federal court although he has already withdrawn it."

In reality, to render justice to the [ 16] dead and hundreds of wounded in the 30 March 1997 grenade attack incident in front of the National Assembly, getting the culprits is the most important endeavor because no power in the world should cover up this great tragedy.

However, Ron Abney agreed to withdraw the lawsuit from the US federal court because he was told that "if he did not drop the charges about what happened in Cambodia Sam Rainsy would surely get killed."

US decides to allow a person accused of involvement in terrorist attack because he is now supporting Pres. Bush's war on terrorism

US defends decision to let notorious Cambodian police chief visit

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government said Tuesday there were "compelling reasons" to host Cambodia's police chief for counter-terrorism talks here this week despite suspicions he was involved in terrorist killings, drug trafficking and other crimes.

Hok Lundy, Cambodia's national police chief, has been granted a visa to hold talks here Thursday with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on counter-terrorism matters, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

McCormack acknowledged that Lundy had been refused a US visa in the past due to accusations he was involved in human trafficking, and he said State Department officials were aware of other allegations against the police official.

But he said that there were no "legal bars" preventing Lundy from receiving a visa and that authorities had made a "policy judgement" to let him attend the meeting with the FBI.

Lundy was notably implicated in a 1997 grenade attack against anti-government demonstrators in Cambodia which killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 120 others, including a US national.

The FBI classified the attack as an act of terrorism.

Lundy has also been accused of involvement in other politically motivated killings, drug trafficking and human smuggling.

"We're not trying to discount those allegations," McCormack said. "In this case, it was decided that he would be granted a visa specifically to attend these counter-terrorism meetings."

"There were compelling reasons that he be granted a visa," he said.

McCormack declined to elaborate on the reasons or any other aspects of the case.

A senior State Department official admitted there had been a "pretty healthy internal" debate over whether to let Lundy into the country.

"People made the judgement that it was in our interest to issue him the visa," he said.

The human rights group Human Rights Watch slammed the decision.

"Hok Lundy's alleged involvement in political violence and organized crime in Cambodia means that the FBI should be investigating him, not hosting him," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"By inviting Hok Lundy to discuss the rule of law and effective police enforcement, the US government is likely to breed cynicism among Cambodians about its commitment to human rights and political reform," he added.

The group said US authorities were turning a blind eye to Lundy's involvement in human rights abuses because of his support for President George W. Bush's "global war on terrorism."

Letter a ‘Message Of Regret,’ Not An Apology

The following is a letter sent by opposition leader Sam Rainsy in response to the Cambodia Daily's article which stated that Sam Rainsy sent a "formal letter of apology" to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

I write to clarify a point in the article "Decade Yields Few Clues in 1997 Grenade Attack". The letter that I sent to Prime Minister Hun Sen in February 2006 was not a "formal letter of apology" as the article states, but rather a message expressing regret for being forced into a situation where harsh comments were necessary.

I agreed to refrain from making personal attacks and accusations, and committed instead to focus on issues of national importance. One priority, for instance, is to reform the judiciary in order to render justice to the victims of human rights abuses and political violence.

Sam Rainsy,
SRP President,
Phnom Penh

Cambodia opposition demands end to culture of impunity

Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy pays respect in front of a memorial for victims of a deadly grenade attack, in Phnom Penh March 30, 2007. Friday marks the 10th year anniversary of a grenade attack which took place in front of the national assembly killing 16 people and injuring 150. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Saturday, March 31, 2007
AFP

“These cowards were sent by government thugs and their agents to try and kill those threatening Hun Sen’s hold on the people” - Ron Abney of the perpetrators of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack

Like militants and anti­government civil libertarians in the Philippines, Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy demanded Friday an end to the country’s culture of impunity, at a ceremony in Phnom Penh, the capital, marking a grenade attack that killed at least 16 protesters 10 years ago.

No one has been arrested for the bombing of the anti­government protest, which also wounded more than 120 people, including an American, despite government claims that the case is still open.

“All compatriots, unite together to end this culture of impunity in order to stop powerful people from killing others at will and not face conviction,” a tearful Sam Rainsy said.

“Ten years have passed but our hurt and misery remain the same,” he added, standing at the site outside Cambodia’s parliament where four grenades were hurled into the crowd on March 30, 1997.

Sam Rainsy called on the governments of France and the United States to look into the grenade attack.

The New York-based rights group, Human Rights Watch, on Thursday also urged the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to reinvestigate the attack.

The FBI opened a probe into the attack after US citizen Ron Abney, who was country director of the US-funded democracy group International Republican Institute, was seriously wounded by shrapnel.

But the investigation was hampered by uncooperative Cambodian government officials and quickly bogged down.

In a statement read out at Friday’s gathering, Abney said “that one tragic event that day showed the world what happens when [Prime Minister] Hun Sen’s power is questioned.”

“These cowards were sent by government thugs and their agents to try and kill those threatening Hun Sen’s hold on the people,” he said.

Bodyguards of Hun Sen have been accused by rights groups of throwing the grenades—a charge repeatedly denied by the premier.

Sam Rainsy had earlier accused Hun Sen of masterminding of the attack, but later recanted after returning last year from self-imposed exile in France, where he had fled to avoid being imprisoned for defaming the premier.

30 March 1997: The victims remember

Chet Chin (R) and Ly Neary (L) in front of the portrait of their son who was killed during the grenade attack on March 30, 1997 (Photo: Pring Samrang, Cambodge Soir)

Friday, March 30, 2007
By Samuel Bartholin and Kong Sothanarith
Cambodge Soir
Unofficial Translation from French by Tola Ek

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

At Chet Chin and Ly Neary’s home, several portraits still bring back memories of a beloved son, Chet Duong Daravuth, a doctor turned journalist who stood alongside Sam Rainsy before being torn apart by a grenade explosion on March 30, 1997. “That Sunday, we left to my village, along with my wife. I didn’t know there was a large demonstration that was being held. In the morning, my second son came to join us, he told me that grenades was thrown on the [demonstration] procession. I was dismayed,” Chet Duong Daravuth’s explains. “We went to the incident location. Armed soldiers prevented access to those injured, among whom was my son. He thus agonized for half an hour,” Ly Neary sobbed. “We never received any explanations from the government as to what happened during that day,” the grieving couple concluded. “We hope that those involved will be brought up face justice, national or international.” Since the death of their son, the parents took up where their son left off to work for the SRP, Ly Neary is now a SRP commune councilor.

Vong Sopheak collaborates as a reporter with several publications. At that time, he was covering for Moneakseka Khmer, an opposition newspaper, the 30 March demonstration. A survivor, he shows the scar which runs over 30 centimeters (one foot) across his belly which was literally opened from the grenade explosion. “The scars are healed physically but never in my mind.” “I was interviewing workers when the first grenade was thrown over,” he recalled. “I dragged myself on the ground towards the National Assembly where the anti-riot police blocked the access. I tried to go to the other side where Khem Sovannara, a photograph, helped me. I later followed the case but without much faith in the government’s investigation. Justice? Maybe in a very long time, there must be political reasons which prevent it from happening. In the absence of any [investigation] result, the Minister of Interior should have resigned. I also regret that Sam Rainsy changed his position in 2006.

“Yong Soknov and Yong Srei told me: ‘it’s a large demonstration, we must go.’ I told them to be careful. They told me again: ‘We must go, it is for justice and factory workers’ salary.’” Ten years ago, Pov Heng lost her daughter and her niece, both in their twenties and factory workers like her. The pair was mortally wounded on the legs and chest. “Besides Sam Rainsy, I find that the government remains quiet on this issue. I regret that no one cares about the death of my children, and also all of those who still continue to die now: activists, union workers. I think the NGOs and the UN should apply more pressure on the government.”

Cambodia remembers victims of deadly grenade attack a decade ago

A Cambodian woman places a flower in front of portraits of victims of a deadly grenade attack, in Phnom Penh March 30, 2007. Friday marks the 10th year anniversary of a grenade attack which took place in front of the national assembly killing 16 people and injuring 150. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodian Buddhist monks pay respect in front of a memorial for victims of a deadly grenade attack, in Phnom Penh March 30, 2007. Friday marks the 10th year anniversary of a grenade attack which took place in front of the national assembly killing 16 people and injuring 150. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Friday, March 30, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Dozens of Buddhist monks chanted prayers Friday to mark the anniversary of a deadly grenade attack at a peaceful anti-government demonstration 10 years ago.

Sam Rainsy, Cambodia's main opposition leader, led about 300 of his supporters to a concrete memorial erected outside the Cambodian National Assembly that honors those killed on the same spot when four grenades were lobbed into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators on March 30, 1997.

At least 16 people were killed and 114 others wounded, including an American. No one has been arrested and no official death toll was released.

Sam Rainsy, who led the demonstration and escaped unharmed during the attack, on Friday renewed his call for justice.

"Although 10 years have passed, our sufferings still remain with us — so does our determination to see justice done for the victims," he said Friday at the ceremony.

U.S. citizen Ron Abney was among the wounded, prompting an FBI probe that has never been made public.

Abney did not attend the commemoration Friday. But he issued a statement handed out at the ceremony that called the attackers "thugs and agents" sent by the government "to try and kill those threatening (Prime Minister) Hun Sen's hold on the people."

"We can't let the killers of these brave men and women who were slaughtered go unpunished," he said.

Sam Rainsy had previously accused Hun Sen of being behind the attack. But he later retracted the allegation.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a statement Thursday, accused authorities of involvement in the attack.

"The Cambodian authorities have never conducted a serious investigation into this attack, either despite or because of substantial evidence of government involvement," Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, said in the statement.

The statement noted that on the day of the attack the Cambodian police force — which had routinely kept a high profile at opposition demonstrations to discourage public participation — had been unusually absent.

However, Hun Sen's personal bodyguards had been "for the first time" deployed at a demonstration, implying they were there to help the attackers escape. Human Rights Watch urged the FBI to reopen an investigation into the attack.

Hun Sen has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.

Khieu Sopheak, a police lieutenant general and spokesman of Cambodia's Interior Ministry, on Friday dismissed allegations of government involvement as "groundless."

He said the investigation into the case remains open but that the government had no new leads to pursue.

SRP commemorates the 10th anniversary of the grenade attack in front of the Nat'l Assembly

Sam Rainsy, left, opposition party leader, prays with incense sticks in front of a memorial of Cambodian victims of a deadly grenade attack of March 30, 1997, in the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, March 30, 2007. Cambodian opposition party supporters and Buddhist monks chanted prayer at a ceremony remembering Friday the victims of a deadly grenade attack on peaceful demonstration 10 years ago. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian Buddhist monks chant as they pray in front of some displaying portrait photos of Cambodian victims of a deadly grenade attack of March 30, 1997, at a memorial stupa in the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, March 30, 2007. Cambodian opposition party supporters and Buddhist monks chanted prayer at a ceremony remembering Friday the victims of a deadly grenade attack on peaceful demonstration 10 years ago. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Sam Rainsy, right, opposition party leader, prays in front of some displaying portrait photos of Cambodian victims of a deadly grenade attack of March 30, 1997, at a memorial stupa in the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, March 30, 2007. Cambodian opposition party supporters and Buddhist monks chanted prayer at a ceremony remembering Friday the victims of a deadly grenade attack on peaceful demonstration 10 years ago. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Decade Later, Rights Group Calls for Justice for Grenade Attack

Mourners cry out at a funeral for people killed March 30, 1997, when four grenades were hurled into a crowd of opposition demonstrators. Thirteen people died in the attack, but no suspect has ever been tried.

Reaksmey Heng
VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
29/03/2007

The New York-based Human Rights Watch Thursday criticized the Cambodian government for its lack of progress into the investigation of a 1997 grenade attack.

The statement came on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the grenade attack, March 30, and as preparations were underway for a peaceful demonstration by opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

Last week, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights called on the government to release information on investigations of several unresolved cases, including the grenade.

Grenades tossed into the a crowd of Sam Rainsy Party demonstrators in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh killed at least 13 people and wounded 30 others.

Ministry of Interior Spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Thursday the government had arrested a suspect, named Verea, who later died in a traffic accident.

“If I am not mistaken, we already found the person behind the attack”, Khieu Sopheak said.

“If the government wants to show its good will, or wants to give justice to the people, they should release information on the investigation,” Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights said. “Don't say that they are still probing; it has been 10 years.”

Meanwhile, Sam Rainsy, who expressed skepticism to the Cambodian government along with its justice system, said he would arranged for a grand Buddhist memorial scheduled for this coming Friday.

Human Rights Watch Calls For New Probe Of 1997 Grenade Attack

March 29th 2007
DPA

Human Rights Watch called Thursday for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to reopen its probe of a 1997 grenade attack on a political rally in Cambodia. The New York-based non-governmental organization accused the Cambodian government of making no progress in pursuing justice in the March 30, 1997 grenade attack on a rally by supporters of opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

The blast in a park next to the National Assembly in Phnom Penh killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 150 others.

Four grenades were lobbed into the crowd, and both demonstrators and bystanders were among the casualties. Rainsy was wounded in the leg, shielded by a bodyguard who threw himself on the former finance minister after the first detonation. The bodyguard was among the dead.

"The Cambodian authorities have never conducted a serious investigation into this attack, either despite or because of substantial evidence of government involvement," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "This attack was intended to destroy serious political pluralism in Cambodia, and it partially succeeded."

Cambodia: After 10 Years, No Justice for Grenade Attack on Opposition

Park worker Chan Dara, 39, clears grass near a memorial of Cambodian victims of a deadly grenade attack of March 30, 1997, in the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 29, 2007. The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the FBI to reopen a probe into the grenade attack that killed more than a dozen Cambodians and wounded an American. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

28 Mar 2007
Human Rights Watch

(New York, March 29, 2007)- Ten years after a grisly grenade attack on an opposition party rally in Phnom Penh left at least 16 dead and more than 150 injured, the Cambodian government has made no progress in bringing the perpetrators to justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to reopen its investigation of the attack, which the US government deemed an "act of terrorism."

On March 30, 1997, a crowd of approximately 200 supporters of the opposition Khmer Nation Party (KNP), led by former Finance Minister Sam Rainsy, gathered in a park across the street from the National Assembly to denounce the judiciary's lack of independence and judicial corruption. In a well-planned attack, four grenades were thrown into the crowd, killing protestors and bystanders, including children, and blowing limbs off street vendors.

After the first grenade exploded, Rainsy's bodyguard, Han Muny, threw himself on top of his leader. He took the full force of a subsequent grenade and died at the scene. Rainsy escaped with a minor leg injury.

"The Cambodian authorities have never conducted a serious investigation into this attack, either despite or because of substantial evidence of government involvement," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "This attack was intended to destroy serious political pluralism in Cambodia, and it partially succeeded. Politics in Cambodia has never fully recovered."

On the day of the attack, for the first time co-Prime Minister Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit was deployed at a demonstration. Photographs show them there in full riot gear. The police force, which had previously maintained a high-profile presence at opposition demonstrations in an effort to discourage public participation, had an unusually low profile on this day, grouped around the corner from the park. Other police units, however, were in a nearby police station in full riot gear on high alert.

Also for the first time, the KNP had received official permission from both the Ministry of the Interior and the Phnom Penh municipality to hold a demonstration, fuelling speculation that the demonstration was authorized so it could be attacked.

Numerous witnesses reported that the people who had thrown the grenades subsequently ran toward Hun Sen's bodyguards, who were deployed in a line at the west end of the park in front of a closed and guarded residential compound containing the homes of many senior Cambodian People's Party (CPP) leaders. Witnesses told investigators from the United Nations and the FBI that the bodyguards opened the line to allow the grenade-throwers to pass into the compound, and that members of the crowd pursuing the grenade-throwers were stopped at gunpoint and threatened with being shot if they did not retreat.

In a June 1997 interview with the Phnom Penh Post, Hing Bun Heang, deputy commander of Hun Sen's bodyguard unit, threatened to kill journalists who alleged that Hun Sen's bodyguards were involved.

"The authorities have never offered a credible explanation for the deployment or behavior of Hun Sen's bodyguards," said Adams. "The actions speak for themselves, and may reach the highest levels of the Cambodian government."

Instead of launching a serious investigation, Hun Sen immediately called for the arrest of the demonstration's organizers and instructed police not to allow them to leave the country. (To read an Agence France Presse account published at the time, please see
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/28/cambod13086.htm.)

The attack took place at a time of extreme political tension. The coalition government between the royalist FUNCINPEC and Hun Sen's CPP was unraveling after armed clashes in Battambang province the previous month. Rainsy's KNP was seen as a threat in national elections scheduled for the following year. For more than a year, he and his party members had been the subject of attacks and threats from CPP officials and agents. A bloody coup by Hun Sen's forces followed in July 1997, killing more than 100 and sending politicians and activists into exile in fear for their lives.

"This brazen attack carried out in broad daylight ingrained impunity in Cambodia more than any other single act in the country's recent history," said Adams. "A few months later, Hun Sen's coup cemented his hold on power."

At the time, the grenade attack made headlines and provoked outrage around the world. The Washington Post dispatched one of its senior investigative reporters to Phnom Penh. On June 29, 1997, R. Jeffrey Smith wrote:

In a classified report that could pose some awkward problems for US policymakers, the FBI tentatively has pinned responsibility for the blasts, and the subsequent interference, on personal bodyguard forces employed by Hun Sen, one of Cambodia's two prime ministers, according to four US government sources familiar with its contents. The preliminary report was based on a two-month investigation by FBI agents sent here under a federal law giving the bureau jurisdiction whenever a US citizen is injured by terrorism ... The bureau says its investigation is continuing, but the agents involved reportedly have complained that additional informants here are too frightened to come forward.

The FBI investigated the attack because Ron Abney, a US citizen, was seriously injured in the blast. Abney had to be evacuated to Singapore to treat shrapnel wounds in his hip.

While the investigation made a promising start, the Cambodian authorities failed to cooperate sufficiently and it soon wound down. Although on January 9, 2000, CIA director George Tenet said the United States would never forget an act of terrorism against its citizens and would bring those responsible to justice "no matter how long it takes," this investigation has effectively been abandoned.

"The FBI launched the only investigation into the attack, but the US has inexplicably dropped it," said Adams. "Intentional amnesia has since set in, and no government or donor now says a word about the attack."

In March 2006, the FBI awarded a medal to the Cambodian Chief of National Police, Hok Lundy, for his support of the US global campaign against terrorism. Hok Lundy was chief of the national police at the time of the grenade attack and has long been linked to political violence.

"Instead of awarding medals to known human rights abusers, the US government should insist that the FBI return to complete its investigation," said Adams. "Family members of the victims are still waiting for justice."

Human rights group urges FBI to re-investigate Cambodia grenade attack

Carnage scene after the grenade attack on 30 March 1997 (Photo: Asiaweek Magazine)

Thursday, March 29, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A New York-based human rights group urged the FBI to reopen a probe into a grenade attack that killed more than a dozen Cambodians and wounded an American a decade ago.

Human Rights Watch made the appeal Thursday, a day ahead of the 10th anniversary of the grenade attack on a peaceful demonstration led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy on March 30, 1997.

"This brazen attack carried out in broad daylight ingrained impunity in Cambodia more than any other single act in the country's recent history," Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, said in a statement.

The statement also "urged the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to reopen its investigation of the attack."

No one has been arrested over the assault that killed at least 16 people and wounded 114 others, when four grenades were tossed into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators outside the Cambodian National Assembly in the capital, Phnom Penh.

No official death toll was ever released.

Sam Rainsy, who led the demonstration, escaped unharmed.

U.S. citizen Ron Abney was among the wounded, prompting an FBI probe. However, the FBI has never released the final version of its report on the case.

In the Human Rights Watch statement, Adams said "the FBI launched the only investigation into the attack, but the U.S. has inexplicably dropped it."

"The U.S. government should insist that the FBI return to complete its investigation. Family members of the victims are still waiting for justice," he said.

Sam Rainsy had previously accused Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen of being behind the attack, but later recanted the allegation.

The Human Rights Watch statement said that on the day of the attack the Cambodian police force — which had routinely kept a high profile at opposition demonstrations to discourage public participation — had been unusually absent, and that officers had grouped around the corner from the park where the rally was held.

However, Hun Sen's personal bodyguards had been "for the first time" deployed at a demonstration, the statement said, implying they were there to help the attackers escape.

Hun Sen has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.

Political Cartoon: A Barking Doggy, Om Yen Tieng

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)