Former Khmer Rouge commander died in car accident

Friday, June 22, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A former Khmer Rouge commander who used to be a close associate to Ta Mok, and who knows a lot about the Khmer Rouge regime, died during a car accident in Thailand. Khim Tem, the former KR commander, later became a general in the Cambodian army. Nhem Orn, the Anlong Veng deputy-district governor, told RFA that Khim Tem died in Surin province, Thailand, from an accident when his car felt into a deep ditch and he was fatally injured in the head. Khim Tem surrendered to the government in 1999 after the KR base in Anlong Veng fell. Reach Sambath, ECCC spokesman, expressed his regret to see Khim Tem died, but he could not confirm if this death will affect a potential witness for the KR trial or not because the court prosecutor did not charge anybody yet, therefore, it is not yet known if a witness is important or not.

Ex-Khmer Rouge General's Death in Car Accident Said May Be Linked to Trial

21 June 2007
By Seiha
Sralanh Khmer
Translated from Khmer and posted online

"A military official has said that a brigadier general died after his car flipped over in a province bordering Thailand on 19 June," said a report by Seiha from the 21 June edition of the Cambodian newspaper Phnom Penh Sralanh Khmer online. The report added, "The brigadier general was Khim Sen, a former Khmer Rouge [KR] deputy military commander in the region of Anlong Veng and now a Military Region 4 official."

The report said that according to the source, the "accident occurred when Khim Sen, on a trip back to Cambodia from the Thai province of Surin, was driving too fast, which caused his car to turn up side down, killing him instantly."

The report added that the accident "coincided with a visit by Prime Minister Hun Sen's wife, Bun Rani Hun Sen, to combatants addicted to drugs at the military police rehabilitation center in Banteay Meanchey Province."

The report also said that according to eyewitnesses, the flipping over car "might carry secret goods, because it was driven too fast and border guards were not allowed to check it." However, other sources suggested that the "death might bury a secret linked to the KR Tribunal [KRT]."

The report further said, "It should be pointed out that in June last year, the former one-legged KR leader, Chin Choeun or Ta Mok, died in Phnom Penh Preah Ket Mealea and was buried in Oddar Meanchey Province's Anlong Veng District. Then on 19 June, another former KR commander in Anlong Veng was killed in an accident after his car flipped over. This death led to suspicion that Khoem Sen, too, might be a KRT witness."

Moreover, the report said that during the second-tenure of the Cambodian Government, "KR general Ke Pok was also killed in an accident after his car turned up side down in Siem Reap Province. Ke Pok played a key role in the KR ranks after Ta Mok and was also an important witness to testify in the KRT."

The report added, "It is suspected that if the international community pushed for the KRT to come out quickly, former important KR leaders would die before they are called to the bar. They would die of either diseases or old age or in car accidents."

To conclude, the report said Gen Sam Bit, who was charged with giving orders to rob a train in Kampot Province in 1994 and executing three foreign tourists in Kampot Province's Phnom Voar area, was "currently suffering severe illnesses."