An opposition party activist is claiming he was the intended target of a grenade attack on his Kompong Cham province home.
Phen Phuong, a Sam Rainsy Party activist and a member of the party’s Ponhea Krek district council, told party officials that an unidentified assailant hurled a grenade on his front yard around 7:30 pm Friday night, Kompong Cham Sam Rainsy Party Chief Mao Monyvann said.
Police said Sunday they had not received any information on the alleged attack. Human rights groups also said they did not know of the alleged incident. Party officials said they will file complaints with human rights groups today and follow up with the police later. For now, party officials said they were treating the incident as a politically motivated attack on one of their more remarkable party members.
Kompong Cham police Chief of Staff Sek Thoeun promised Sunday to “double check” Phen Phuong’s story.
The alleged attack occurred on the same day Kompong Cham provincial court Judge Khieu San convicted two military officials in absentia and one other man for the Nov 14 separate shooting deaths of Funcinpec commune candidate Thon Phally and Sam Rainsy Party activist Phuong Sophat.
In a decision eagerly anticipated by human rights advocates, the judge convicted Chan Ratha, a deputy commander in a Kompong Cham submilitary region, and Yun Tony, another military official, for the killings.
The run-up to Cambodia’s local elections in February saw more than two dozen homicides and several incidents of violence and intimidation. The government has consistently denied any of the violence was politically motivated, usually attributing it to personal disputes.
