Funcinpec Candidate Charged With Terrorism

Funcinpec’s No 2 candidate for Pailin in the July 27 elections Sou Kim, 50, was arrested Friday on charges of terrorism and sent to Phnom Penh where he is being detained in Prey Sar prison, police officials said Monday.

“He was arrested according to the court warrant. He was accused of terrorism. Police just followed the warrant,” Bou Sarin, Pailin deputy police chief, said Monday.

Phat Thea, also a Pailin deputy police chief, said that Sou Kim was accused of belonging to an armed group based in Phnom Penh.

Phat Thea said there was no men­tion of Sou Kim’s involvement with the Cambodian Freedom Fight­ers, the US-based anti-com­mun­ist group blamed for an attack on government buildings in Phnom Penh in November 2000.

But a Municipal Court official close to the case said on Monday that Sou Kim had been fingered by four men arrested in Novem­ber for belonging to the CFF.

Based on information from the four men, the Ministry of Interior launched an investigation into Sou Kim’s activities and requested an arrest warrant. The warrant was issued by Investigating Judge Sao Meach in November, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Sok Phal, chief of the ministry’s Central Investigation Department, said Monday that he was too busy to comment on the case.

A human rights investigator in Pailin said Sunday that Sou Kim’s arrest appeared suspicious.

“When we went to the police station, the [arresting] officers tried to run away,” the rights worker said on condition of anonymity.

Chan Sopheap, Sou Kim’s wife, said Monday that Funcinpec was the only organization her husband belonged to.

She claimed that arresting officers at the police station read from a piece of paper they said was a warrant, but they did not let her or her husband exam the document.

Deputy Police Chief Phat Thea said police were unable to read out the arrest warrant be­cause Chan Sopheap was hysterical.

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