Six suspected members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters were charged Tuesday in Phnom Penh municipal court with membership in an illegal armed force.
Prosecutor Yet Chakriya said the six men, most of them from Siem Reap and Kompong Cham provinces, are suspected of involvement with the group blamed for the Nov 24 attack on government offices that left as many as eight dead.
Their cases had been overseen by the military court and the six were held for about one month before being transferred to municipal court.
Since the raid, some 200 people have been questioned by authorities, and more than 50 have been charged with alleged involvement in the anti-government group, according to figures recorded by human rights groups.
One of the defendants, Chou Try, 54, told the court he was not a CFF member, although he said he knew one of the other defendants, Yon Sok San.
Chou Try, president of the Angkor Farmers Association, was arrested in Siem Reap.
Yon Sok San told the court that he was a Freedom Fighter for about a year, but said has not recently been involved with the group.
He said he was part of the resistance forces that battled troops loyal to Prime Minister Hun Sen during the 1997 factional fighting.
Yon Sok San told the court he met CFF leader Chhun Yasith during that year, when Chhun Yasith came to the Cambodian-Thai border area to help the resistance forces.
Yon Sok San said Chhun Yasith contacted him in July through Richard Kiri Kim, the only Cambodian-American in custody for being involved in the Freedom Fighters.
Yon Sok San said Kiri Kim brought him to Thailand in August to meet Chhun Yasith, who asked him to recruit more members in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Malai.
“I refused to follow them,” Yon Sok San said. “I told them since there is peace now, there is no reason to fight the government.”
Nuon Nath, a soldier who was arrested in Kompong Cham, denied being a CFF member, but said he knew one of the rebels killed in the Phnom Penh raid.
Nuon Nath said the man, a casual acquaintance, visited his house two days before the fighting to make small talk.
“That is why I was arrested,” Nuon Nath said.
