Four men who allegedly beat a young military police officer with glass bottles at a nightclub in Pailin City on Sunday night were sent to the provincial court Thursday and provisionally charged with aggravated violence, officials said.
According to deputy provincial military police commander Sieng Vandorn, a group of five or six men attacked Piseth Vutha, 20, at the Golden Dragon Club in the border town at about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday when a drunken argument escalated.
“They used bottles and smashed them against his head and body,” Mr. Vandorn said, adding that Mr. Vutha, a provincial military police officer, filed a complaint with his superiors on Monday morning, leading to the arrest of one of the suspects, Sun Vuthy, 26, at his house that afternoon.
Mr. Vandorn said three other men—Ly Muslim, 31; Chea Net, 26; and Vy Chhai, 24—were apprehended at their homes on Wednesday and that investigators linked all four to the brutal beating using security camera footage provided by the nightclub. He said the men were unemployed and passed time spending their parents’ money and making trouble.
“Now, we are seeking the arrest of two more suspects involved in this case,” he said.
Mr. Vandorn said Mr. Vutha had worked for the National Military Police in Phnom Penh before he was transferred to Pailin province about three months ago. He said the young officer was being treated for serious head wounds at the provincial referral hospital.
Chum Sen Sothea, chief prosecutor at the Pailin Provincial Court, said he provisionally charged the four suspects Thursday, but returned them to military police custody last night.
“I provisionally charged all of them with intentional violence with aggravating circumstances,” he said, adding that an investigating judge would question the four this morning and decide whether to send them to prison.
