The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday tried two former police officers facing charges related to the shooting of a 29-year-old man who refused to pay a bribe at an unofficial roadside checkpoint in January.
Presiding Judge Suo Sam Ath said You Sokkea, 30, and Kong Dara, 44, are facing charges of attempted extortion and illegally using a weapon.
In court, Mr. Sokkea denied shooting the victim—Dy Vichet, who was left with a bullet wound in the left side of his chest after the encounter on Street 598 in Russei Keo district—but confessed to discharging his gun and to taking bribes.
Mr. Sokkea’s account differed from that of the victim, who said, while in the hospital, that he had simply refused to pay an illegitimate fee demanded by the police officers who stopped him while he was driving a truck transporting chilies.
“I saw the driver get out and walk toward me with an iron pole in his hand, and I took out my gun,” Mr. Sokkea said, claiming that he fired into the air to warn Mr. Vichet.
He admitted that he would regularly station himself, without permission, on Street 598 to extort money from drivers, and said he had been doing so for about two years.
“I am not traffic police but I decided to do that to improve the poor living conditions for my family. I ask the judge not to imprison me for a long time,” he said.
Mr. Dara, for his part, claimed to not have been on the scene when the alleged shooting occurred.
“I saw a police officer chase a van when I was away at a petrol station, I didn’t know a shooting had taken place,” he said.
Judge Sam Ath said the suspects’ actions “strongly affect the public, and the honor of other police officers.”
A verdict is due to be announced on July 25.
