Funcinpec Stalwart Sau Phan Dies at Age 69

Sau Phan, an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Interior and former deputy National Police chief, died early Wednesday. He was 69.

His brother, Sau Phana, said that Sau Phan, a diabetic, had fallen ill after eating dinner with his wife at their Phnom Penh home on Tuesday evening and later passed away at Calmette Hospital at about 12:20 a.m.

“I am very sorry that my elder brother died too fast. I missed his last breath,” Mr. Phana said. Sau Phan returned to Cambodia from France in 1993 as a member of Funcinpec and defected to the CPP in 2004.

He made headlines the same year when, as deputy chief of National Police, he told reporters that torture was sometimes necessary to extract confessions.

Sau Phan is survived by his three children, who live in France, and his wife, Chroeng Silvy.

According to Mr. Phana, Sau Phan will be cremated on Saturday at the Bak Kheng pagoda near his home in Chroy Changva district.

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