Systematic extra-judicial killings were directed and executed for
decades by death squads established under Prime Minister Hun Sen’s regime and
run by men who are now some of the highest-ranking members of government, a
report released yesterday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleges.
The report, Tell Them That I Want
to Kill Them, unearths hundreds of cases of political killings investigated by
the United Nations, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, rights groups and
the media that are linked to individuals including chief of the Ministry of
Interior’s criminal department Mok Chito and Central Security Directorate chief
Sok Phal.
From the “A-teams” or death
squads established in the 1980s to the grenade attacks on opposition parties in
the 1990s, the bloody 1997 coup d’etat to the killing of Chut Wutty this year,
the report outlines how alleged murderers have been promoted in the Cambodian
People's Party-led government rather than prosecuted.
The government has said the
report is a baseless, politically timed stunt intended to try and derail the
ASEAN summit that begins on Thursday.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia
director at Human Rights Watch, said the farcical explanation for the death of
fierce anti-logging activist Chut Wutty — an official investigation revealed he
was shot by a military police officer who was then, accidentally, killed with
his own gun by a man trying to disarm him — showed murders were rewarded by the
Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
“The fact that, for instance, Mok
Chito is tapped to go down to lead the investigation and come up with a story
to try to explain away the Chut Wutty murder shows that these people are still
the go-to people for the CPP,” Robertson said.
“Somebody like Mok Chito, who is
known to have a long association with the most senior people in the government
and is known to have a reputation as someone who has repeatedly got their hands
dirty for the CPP as an enforcer type, this is the type of person that... when this
person says what the story is, everybody salutes.”
Wutty was killed on April 26
while investigating illegal logging in the Cardamom Mountains.
The report quotes a senior
operative under the State of Cambodia, the regime that ruled Cambodia
immediately after the Khmer Rouge, detailing how a secret death squad called
A-92 was directed by Sok Phal and Mok Chito.
“When [senior police officer] Mok
Chito or my unit discovered something or a target, we first had to make a
report to our superiors. They take the decision to kill. Mok Chito was involved
in lots of killings,” the anonymous operative is quoted as saying.
“Sok Phal was in charge of
internal security, while Luor Ramin was responsible for foreigners. A-teams
reported to Sok Phal, who reported to Sin Sen. Sometimes they went directly to
Sin Sen.”
Sok Phal said yesterday he was
very surprised to hear of the allegations against him.
“It is the first time that I
heard people accuse me; I am always helping people,” he said, requesting a copy
of the report before he could comment further.
Mok Chito, who, according to the
report, was referred to by one US diplomat as “the ultimate fox in the chicken
coop”, said he was at the gym yesterday and then switched off his phone.
Many others who were subsequently
promoted to high-level positions in the CPP and government are named as having
been involved in extrajudicial killings or death squads.
They include You Sin Long,
secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs; Heng Pov, who
became Phnom Penh police chief and an adviser to Hun Sen until he was jailed on
a slew of charges including extortion and murder; and Luor Ramin, who has also
been promoted to the upper ranks of the NACD.
David Boyle and May Titthara
Business & Investment Opportunities
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