Thai military kills two in shooting at border

Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Phak Seangly
The Phnom Penh Post

Thailand repatriated the corpses along with four shells of AK-47 rifle bullets as a way of claiming these supposed loggers fired on them first

Cambodian officials and a human-rights group yesterday condemned the fatal shooting of two Cambodian men who crossed into Thailand on Sunday, allegedly to illegally log.

Thailand yesterday repatriated the bodies of the two men who Thai soldiers gunned down about four kilometres from the Cambodian-Thai border at Bat­tambang province, police said yesterday.

Despite a local report yesterday that the two men were Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers, Nguon Muth, chief of staff at Samlot district police station, identified the victims as civilians Chhorn Vannak, 18 and Lon Puth, 19.

“The deceased were citizens, not Khmer soldiers,” he said.

Cambodia Watchdog Council's statement on the shooting by Thai soldiers on Cambodian civilians

Border shooting: Five shot, one dead on Thai border

Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post

Border shooting

One Cambodian man was killed and four others injured on Sunday afternoon after they were shot by Thai soldiers after illegally crossing the border from Oddar Meanchey province into Thailand’s Sisaket province. Trapaing Prasat district police chief Keo Tan said that Thai soldiers fired on a group of five Cambodians from Kampong Thom province’s Baray district after they were allegedly found logging rosewood two kilometres inside Thai territory. He identified the deceased man as 43-year-old Si Boeun. “Khmer authorities have contacted the Thai side to ask for the Cambodian body to be taken back [to Cambodia],” the police chief said. He added that the four other victims who were shot are already back in Cambodia, where they are receiving treatment for their injuries at the Oddar Meanchey provincial hospital.

FTUWKC's official letter to Mrs. Yingluck Shinawatra, Thai PM

Dear All

Please note official letter to Mrs. Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand.

FTU will send an official letter to the Thai embassy in Cambodia to be provided to Mrs. Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand on her visit to Cambodia next week.

Mr. Chea Mony would like Mrs. Yingluck Shinawatra to help coordinate a stop in the shooting of Cambodians along the Khmer-Thai border.

Cambodians have to cross the Thai border to find job, but Thai troops always shoot them. Due to this problem, Chea Mony wants Thailand to respect the convention of International Human Right and International Labor Organization.

For more information, please contact Mr. Chea Mony.

Thank you,

Mony

--

Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC)

Social Justice is the Foundation of Peace

Address: House No.16A, Street 360, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 3,

Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh

Tel/Fax: +855 0 23 216 870

Mobile: +855 0 12 941 308 / +855 0 12 846 408

Another Cambodian seriously injured after being shot by the Thais

03 Feb 2010
By Pech Bandol
Free Press Magazine online
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

In addition to the various other dead and injured people, on Tuesday, another Cambodian citizen was seriously injured by a Thai bullet when he and a group of 11 other men attempted to cross the border to log trees inside Thailand, along the border with Oddar Meanchey province.

According to local villagers and human rights group officials, a 25-year-old man living in O’Smach commune, Samrong district, Oddar Meanchey province was shot once on his right hand, and once in the back by Thai soldiers at about 5:30AM when Thai soldiers discovered a group of about 12 men inside the Thai territory.

Ly Kim Eng, the father of Ly Khloeung, said that his son is still alive after being shot twice. Nevertheless, Ly Kim Eng said: “This is normal life for people living in O’Smach commune. They have to earn a living through logging trees along the border.”

This is another heartbreaking story for poor Cambodian villagers who are forced to venture into logging trees or working as laborers in Thailand. In the past, Cambodian villagers met with horrendous circumstances, some were shot dead, while others were burnt alive or have their heads cut off by Thai soldiers. The information on these tragedies was made available to the public, but it is rare that the Cambodian government would react to all these savage acts.

Cambodian government officials prohibit Cambodian villagers from crossing the border to Thailand to log trees, or work as laborers. However, because Cambodia did not create enough jobs to prevent such flood of illegal workers crossing into Thailand, Cambodian villagers continue to serve as shooting target for the Thai soldiers. All of this is due to the hunger of these Cambodian villagers.

A Cambodian man shot and seriously wounded by Thai soldiers while foraging along the borders

Monday, January 04, 2010
By Khmerization

A 25 year-old Cambodian man was shot and seriously injured on the left leg by Thai soldiers while he and 2 friends were foraging for wild vegetable and hunting animals on top of the mountains along the Khmer-Thai borders on 3rd January 2010, reports Radio Free Asia.

Phoeuth Phim was shot when he and friends went picking for wild vegetable and set up traps to catch animals on the mountain in Banteay Chmar commune in Thmor Puok district of Banteay Meanchey province.

Mrs. Chea Saroeun, mother of the victim, said her son and his friends were foraging and hunting inside Cambodian territories. "They shot him on the left leg. Everyday he always went to set up traps to catch wild animals and pick wild prich (a kind of wild vegetable) leaves for his wife to sell at the market. They (the Thai soldiers) are very cruel, they shot him even while he is inside Khmer territories. If they entered Thai territories then they deserved to be shot, but they were actually inside Khmer territories", she said.

Currently, Phoeuth Phim was sent for treatment at Cambodia-Japan Friendship Hospital in Mongkolborey district in Banteay Meanchey province. His two friends were unhurt.

Cambodian man shot and killed by Thai soldiers

04 January 2010
By Suon Sophalmony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

A Cambodian citizen donned in army uniform was shot and killed by Thai soldiers who accused him of robbery. The body of the slain victim is still in the possession of Thailand.

Cambodian border troops indicated that Thailand refused to return the body of a Cambodian citizen who was shot and killed by Thai soldiers during Saturday night. Thai soldiers accused the Cambodian man who was killed of robbery inside Thai territories while still in his [Cambodian] uniform.

Pok Poch, the RCAF commander of army unit No. 3 based on Sampov Loun district, Battambang province, indicated that the Cambodian authority is currently in contact with the Thai counterpart to repatriate back the body of the slain man.

Pok Poch said: “I am continuing to do research in Phnom Dey still. [The incident] took place inside Thai territories, not inside Cambodia. But, I am doing research with merchants who trade in this area.”

According to local villagers, Thai black-clad soldiers shot a killed a man donned in paramilitary uniform in the night of 03 January, near the 4-sewer area, Klong Hat district, Srah Keo province, Thailand.

The same source confirmed that Thailand refused to return the body of the deceased Cambodian man who was wearing Cambodian army uniform to the Cambodia authority: “He went to rob [in Thailand], then the Thai ordered their soldiers to ambush him. When he got out, they killed him. The Thai said that there is no need to take to body back because they want to pursue the case. They said that Cambodians are bad.”

Keang Sothy, the deputy police inspector for Sampov Loun district, indicated that, regarding the case above, the Cambodian police heard about it, but it cannot resolve the case because the body still remains in Thailand.

RFA could not reach the Thai authority to obtain additional confirmation into this case.

An Saray, the chairman of the Khmer-Thai relationship in Phnom Dey pass, Sampov Loun district, Battambang province, said that he knows that a man was killed by Thai soldiers, but he does not know the identity of the victim.

An Saray said: “I know that they [Thai soldiers] shot and killed him, but I do not know his identity, and I do not know that he is wearing military uniform. If he is a soldier, which unit does he belong to? We can contact their soldiers, but I don’t know, if I report the case to them, it is not clear.”

Even though Cambodian soldiers tried to hide the identity of the victim, local villagers revealed that the Cambodian man who was killed seems to be a Cambodian soldier because he was still wearing a uniform.

Up to now, the reason why this Cambodian man in Cambodian army uniform was killed is not clear yet, but Cambodian soldiers seem to try to restrict all information about this case.

Cambodian troops fired at Thai troops, no one injured

April 4, 2009
The Nation

Si Sa Ket - Cambodian troops opened fire twice at Thai troops at the border here Saturday afternoon.

No one was injured in the shootings, seen as attempts to provoke the Thai troops.

At 11:30 am, a Cambodian soldier fired over ten shots of AK-47 assault rifle from in front of Preah Vihear temple into a ground in from of Mor Edaeng Cliff, prompting paramilitary troopers there to run for cover.

A Cambodian troop was then heard shouting, the gun accidentally fired.

Then at 12:45 pm, Thai paramilitary troopers stationed on a base on the cliff heard an artillery fire from the Cambodian soil, prompting them to run for cover.

Thai troops were instructed not to return fire.

"The Thai military and the Thai authorities did not commit the killing" -sic!-

Border officials - Inset: The body of a Cambodian man shot and killed (Photo: Sovannara, Koh Santepheap)

Thailand Denies Role in Border Shootings

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 July 2008

The Thai Embassy issued a statement Saturday denying Thai border officials were involved in a shooting Thursday that led to the deaths of two Cambodians, but a Thai official said Monday an investigation will be conducted.

The shootings were the result of human trafficking, the Thai statement said.

It On, 25, and Chea Phal, 6, were allegedly shot Thursday afternoon on the Thai side of an informal border crossing at Bantey Meanchey province. Witnesses said Friday the shooter was a Thai border patrolman.

Thai authorities will conduct an investigation into the shooting, which took place on Thai soil, Thai First Secretary Chaturont Chaiyakam told VOA Khmer Monday.

"The Thai military and the Thai authorities did not commit the killing," he said. "We try to prevent the people from smuggling into Thailand. You know, it's dangerous if you cross the border because there are criminals, Cambodian or Thai, along the border."

Tim Sareth, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior's Cambodia-Thai coordination office, said Cambodia's representative to Srah Keo province had sent a letter to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs urging an arrest in Thursdays' shootings.