Hok Lundy loyalist tipped to become next police chief [-Neth Savoeun is Hok Lundy No. 2?]

General Neth Savoeun grieves at Tuesday’s memorial service for Hok Lundy. (Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN)

Thursday, 13 November 2008
Written by Sam Rith and Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

Neth Savoeun is only name on the shortlist, police brass say, but the official word has yet to come on his appointment

NATIONAL Police General Neth Savoeun is the most likely successor to top cop Hok Lundy, police officials said Wednesday, but said that no official appointment has been made.

"It is just a plan. It will not be official until a royal decree is released," said Teng Savong, deputy director of the National Police.

An assistant to Neth Savoeun who did not want to be named told the Post Wednesday that, while the appointment is widely expected, neither he nor Neth Savoeun had seen an order by King Norodom Sihamoni formalising the arrangement.

Hok Lundy was killed Sunday in a helicopter crash while flying to Svay Rieng province in bad weather. Mechanical failure, which officials say caused a fire, is the most likely cause of the mishap.

His death raised speculation of a power struggle within Cambodia's National Police, which Hok Lundy, a close ally and relative by marriage to Prime Minister Hun Sen, had commanded since 1994.

He was frequently the target of human rights groups, who accused him of a vast array of abuses, including human trafficking and murder. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that Neth Savoeun was unlikely to be any better.

"[He] should be under investigation by the police, not be the National Police chief. He will almost certainly continue to politicise the work of the police," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

"This is a very disturbing appointment."

Neth Savoeun, 52, who is married to Hun Sen's niece, joined the police force in the 1980s, rising to the post of Phnom Penh municipal police chief during the early 1990s and head of the Justice Department in the Ministry of Interior's Penal Crimes Division.

Hun Sen Relative Tapped as Police Chief: Cambodia's Family Trees?

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
11 November 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

A police general who served under the late Hok Lundy and is an in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen has been selected to lead the nation’s police force, following a deadly helicopter crash Sunday.

Gen. Neth Savoeun, who has served in the police as well as the Ministry of Interior and is married to Hun Sen’s niece, was officially decreed as national police chief late Monday.

The former chief, Hok Lundy, a powerful Cambodian People’s Party general who continually faced allegations of serious human rights abuses, died Sunday night, when a helicopter transporting him to his home province of Svay Rieng crashed.

“King Norodom Sihamoni officially signed the decree to appoint Gen. Neth Savoeun late Monday as the national police chief to replace Hok Lundy,” Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said Tuesday. “I and all Cambodian police welcome the new appointment. Neth Savoeun has a lot of experience in the police.”

Neth Savoeun, 52, was police chief of Phnom Penh during the State of Cambodia, served as the head of the justice department in the Interior Ministry’s Penal Crimes Division after the 1993 elections, and recently became a deputy national police chief under Hok Lundy. He married Hun Sen’s niece, Hun Kimleng, in the early 1990s.

Contacted Tuesday, Neth Savoeun declined to comment on his appointment, saying he was busy with funeral ceremonies for Hok Lundy, who is scheduled to be buried in Svay Rieng’s Rumduol district Saturday.

“I’m not thinking about who [specifically] is appointed,” Chan Soveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc said. “But I want the person appointed as the new general of national police to have a good background, not to be involved in corruption, not be involved in human trafficking, or drug trafficking, or involved in killings. So I hope that the government has decided to appoint Neth Savoeun because his background is not involved in these.”

During his 14-year tenure as chief, Hok Lundy was accused of all these crimes, including collaboration in the 1997 grenade attack on opposition supporters, which killed 16 people, and extrajudicial killings during the 1997 CPP coup. He was denied US entry on suspicion of human trafficking in 2006, but had in recent years become an ally of the FBI for regional counterterrorism.

Under Hok Lundy, the national police force was routinely criticized for torture, corruption and abuse of power.

Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party, said Neth Savoeun lacked qualifications.

“As I’ve known him before, he has not graduated from the Police Academy, and his rank comes from his relations to a high-ranking official, or nepotism,” said Kem Sokha, who was arrested by the national police in 2006 and spent 17 days in jail on charges of defamation.

Asked whether Neth Savoeun could reform the national police, Kem Sokha said, “I don’t think it depends on Neth Savoeun. Whatever the national police chief did before, it was dependent on the government. [Police] weren’t independently allowed to do anything.”

Police, CPP brass on top cop shortlist

Investigators from Cambodia's Civil Aviation Secretariat inspect the wreckage of the helicopter that was carrying National Police Chief Hok Lundy when it crashed Sunday night.

Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Written by Sebastian Strangio and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

PM to announce Hok Lundy's replacement as police chief

OFFICIALS say they are unsure who will take the helm at the Kingdom's national police authority following Sunday's death of Police Chief Hok Lundy in a helicopter crash.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Hok Lundy's replacement would be chosen from among Cambodia's eight deputy police commissioners and the members of the CPP standing committee as a matter of urgency.

"The CPP regrets the loss of Hok Lundy, but at the same time we have to consider a successor as soon as possible to ensure stability," he said, adding that Prime Minister Hun Sen would make the final decision on the appointment. "The body needs a new head."

Hok Lundy was killed Sunday night when his helicopter crashed in Svay Rieng province's Rumduol district, along with General Sok Saem and the craft's two pilots.

Deputy Commissioner Neth Savoeun, who is married to Hun Sen's niece, is expected to be first in line for the post and will serve as acting commissioner until a permanent appointment is made.

During his 14 years as National Police commissioner, Hok Lundy, whose daughter is married to Hun Sen's son Hun Manith, has been a controversial figure. International rights organisations have repeatedly accused him of involvement in drug trafficking and politically-motivated killings, allegedly committed during the factional fighting of July 1997.

In February 2006, the US State Department went so far as to deny Hok Lundy a visa to the United States on the basis of allegations he was involved in human trafficking.

But Human Rights Watch criticised the Federal Bureau of Investigation when it welcomed Hok Lundy to the US for counterterrorism talks in April last year, branding the police head "the absolute worst that Cambodia has to offer" and adding that "hardly anyone in Cambodia ... has shown more contempt for the rule of law".

Kek Galabru, president of the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said it was too early to say whether respect for human rights in the police force would improve under a new national commissioner.

"It depends on the person who will replace him, but it's difficult to anticipate. We'll have to wait and see," she said.

But Ny Chakrya, head of the monitoring section at Adhoc, said the appointment would have little impact.

"It does not depend on the personality of the man in charge, it depends on the system," he said Monday. "A new commander will make no difference. When the police system supports and respects human rights, then people will have faith in the police."