chamkar Bei Village, Phnom Voar, Kampot Province – When fugitive former Khmer Rouge Commander Chhouk Rin met with his nephew Sunday in Phnom Penh, he seemed unaware that he was just two days away from his arrest.
Chhouk Rin—who was seized in Oddar Meanchey’s province’s Anlong Veng on Tuesday—had called Prak Saring to meet him in the capital while he was undergoing medical treatment, Prak Saring said Wednesday.
“He did not ask me anything besides asking me to take care of his children and his wife,” the 23-year-old said.
Chhouk Rin had been on the run since February, when the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal against a life sentence issued in 2002 for his role in the 1994 murders of three backpackers from Australia, Britain and France who were taken hostage following a train attack in Kampot province and later executed.
Chhouk Rin had reportedly been away from his family for several months, while he spent time receiving medical treatment in Phnom Penh, and trying to start a new life in Anlong Veng.
But his friends and relatives in Phnom Voar continue to decry what they say is injustice in his case.
Prak Saring said that more than 20 families in the area visited the family’s home on Tuesday to see Chhouk Rin’s wife, Yem Sao, and to express their sympathy.
Yem Sao said she was traveling to Phnom Penh Wednesday to see her husband in Prey Sar prison.
“We don’t want him to be in jail because we know that he is innocent,” Prak Saring said, adding that he is concerned that his uncle, who has HIV/AIDS, will die in jail.
Chhouk Rin’s children, Cheang Samphea, 15, Cheang Reaksmey, 13 and Cheang Theara, 9, who rode their bicycles from school as usual on Wednesday morning, said they were angry about the arrest.
“I want to see my father but I don’t know when, and there is no money for the trip,” Cheang Samphea said.
Chhouk Rin’s older sister, Chhouk Ksath, said everyone in the village supports him because he would often help out people in the community, even newcomers who were not former rebels, by giving them land and rice.
While villagers have protested the court decision many times in the past, the government has ignored them, Chhouk Ksath said.
Chhouk Rin arrived at Prey Sar prison Wednesday at 12:15 pm, according to a cousin of Chhouk Rin, who did not want to be named.
A prison guard said Chhouk Rin was transported by car from Siem Reap province.
Chhouk Rin’s lawyer Puth Theavy said he will write to King Norodom Sihamoni requesting an amnesty.
British Ambassador David Reader welcomed the arrest.
“It’s something we’ve been pressing the Cambodian government for for some time,” he said.
An Australian embassy spokesman said the embassy appreciated the cooperation of the Cambodian government in bringing Chhouk Rin to justice.
But Ouch Noun, 51, a close friend of Chhouk Rin, said the government promised that when the Khmer Rouge laid down their weapons, they wouldn’t be punished.
“The government lied to us,” he said, noting that people who were considerably higher than Chhouk Rin in the Khmer Rouge are now in government positions.
Ouch Noun added that the person who really killed the three foreigners is still alive, and that he believes Prime Minister Hun Sen knows that Chhouk Rin is innocent.
“I think what Hun Sen is doing this for [donor] assistance,” he said. “I think they think of Chhouk Rin as a chess piece in a game,” he added.
(Additional reporting by Saing Soenthrith and David McFadden)
