A funeral ceremony was held in Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district Monday for Yim Pim, the former Khmer Rouge rebel commander who died on Saturday.
Nuon Nov, the deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) region 4, said that Yim Pim, who defected to the government in 1998 and went on to serve as commander of RCAF’s Intervention Brigade 8 at the Preah Vihear temple, was laid to rest at a ceremony attended by both RCAF Deputy Commander-in-Chief Chea Dara and Hun Manet, the son of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Yim Pim defected to the Phnom Penh government in March 1998 and played a key role in the arrest of fugitive Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok one year later.
Brigadier General Nov said Monday that the former rebel commander was posthumously promoted from major general to lieutenant general before the ceremony.
Anlong Veng district police chief Suy Seng said 40 units from the provincial police, military police and RCAF had joined the ceremony and that the former rebel commander will be buried today on a plot of land belonging to his family in Anlong Veng.
