More than eight years ago, Hang Vuthy broke out of Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison in a daring escape, only to turn himself back in to authorities in 2012, claiming he had been forced to flee.
Earlier this week, the disgraced former municipal police official again got out of Prey Sar—this time as one of 100 inmates who were sent to a maximum-security prison in Tbong Khmum province to help alleviate overcrowding at Phnom Penh’s main lockup, an official said.
“It is standard procedure to transfer prisoners here because Prey Sar prison is overcrowded, so we have to share with each other,” said Kea Sovanna, director of Correctional Center 3 in Tbong Khmum, adding that there are now 1,456 inmates, including Mr. Vuthy, in the 1,600-capacity prison.
Mr. Vuthy, the former deputy chief of Phnom Penh’s penal police, was handed a 45-year jail term in 2006 for his involvement in the murder of municipal court Judge Sok Sethamony in 2003. He has since been implicated in a number of assassinations and planned attacks orchestrated by former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov.
In order to carry out the 2006 escape, Mr. Vuthy and 11 other prisoners bound and gagged five fellow inmates, sawed through metal window bars and climbed out using a rope made of sheets and mosquito nets, according to police.
Mr. Vuthy was absent from a series of Supreme Court hearings in October in which Mr. Pov and a number of his associates insisted on their innocence, but had their sentences upheld.
During the trial, the defendants claimed Mr. Vuthy was not called to the hearings because he had information proving that the group was framed.
Sun Sophorn, Mr. Vuthy’s sister, said Tuesday that she was informed on Saturday that her brother was about to be moved.
“I went to visit him on Saturday and he told me he was afraid they would take him away to kill him to shut him up.”
Mr. Sovanna, the prison director, said Mr. Vuthy’s fears were unfounded.
“This is an accusation from some uneducated people,” he said.
