More than 100 police and military police officers are still on the job more than two months after they were among those charged with the intentional killing of five villagers during March’s bloody eviction in Poipet, officials reported.
“How can we detain them?” Battambang Prosecutor Yam Yet, whose court is in charge of the case, asked Sunday. “It’s more than 100, so we cannot detain them.”
Four people—two Poipet commune police officers, a Banteay Meanchey provincial military police officer and a civilian who allegedly impersonated a police officer—are jailed in Battambang.
Yam Yet said Battambang Provincial Court Investigating Judge Nil Non has already questioned some of the more than 100 charged but is still working.
Yam Yet said Nil Non, who refused to comment on Tuesday, spends about three days each week in Banteay Meanchey investigating the case.
The prosecutor would not reveal what information has been gleaned from the interviews so far.
Cambodian Defenders Project lawyer Am Sovann, who is defending some of the villagers, said that the four detained were questioned on May 20 but that he was not invited to attend the hearing.
Am Sovann added that he did not know what the status of the case related to the March 21 incident when more than 100 heavily armed police and military police officers—ordered to evict 218 families from Kbal Spean village—opened fire on the villagers.
Villager Chey Sophat said that some villagers were expected to appear for questioning on Friday and that those injured in the shooting and the relatives of those killed would appear in Battambang court on June 16 and 17.
CDP Executive Director Sok Sam Oeun said Tuesday that the government should treat everyone who commits a crime the same by putting them in jail.
But he said the biggest question, who ordered the shootings, is still no closer to being answered.
“They still think whoever ordered the shootings is high-ranking so it’s okay,” he said.
