Almost six months since three ethnic-Vietnamese fishermen were shot dead by Fisheries Administration officials in Pursat province, no arrests have been made and no charges brought, provincial court Chief Prosecutor Tob Chansereyvuth said Tuesday.
The two men and a pregnant woman were shot dead April 23 in Krakor district by armed fisheries officials who claimed they were attacked first and shot in self-defense.
However, several witnesses to the incident said the officials opened fire on the unarmed fishermen without provocation.
“The case is still under investigation,” Tob Chansereyvuth said by telephone. He referred further questions to Pursat Provincial Court Investigating Judge Pol Vorn.
Pol Vorn hung up his telephone when contacted by a reporter Tuesday afternoon.
Also in Pursat province, the parents of a man shot dead by forestry officials in Bakan District on Sept 22 are seeking $30,000 in compensation from the forestry department for his death, the deceased man’s father, Ear Nam, said.
Ham Bathea, 28, was shot dead by armed forestry officials who alleged the victim was involved in a timber smuggling operation. Three of the five officials arrested for the killing were released on bail over the weekend, Pursat Deputy Chief Prosecutor Pen Sarath said Wednesday. “The charges have not been dropped, our investigation is ongoing,” Pen Sarath said.
And in another controversial Pursat killing, Investigating Judge Duch Chantha said Wednesday that his investigation into the shooting death of Pich Srey Mom, 27, by military police in March had ended.
No one was charged following the killing of Pich Srey Mom, who was shot in the head in Phnom Kravanh district during a joint operation by Conservation International and military police against m’reah prov tree oil smuggling in the area. Officials have described the killing as accidental.
Duch Chantha said the case had ended but he refused to give any details.
By James Welsh
and Kay Kimsong
The Cambodia Daily
As the families of those killed in June’s PMT Air plane crash wait to find out what compensation they may receive, questions have arisen over who insured the fatal flight.
PMT Director Sar Sareth said Wednesday that prominent insurance firm Lloyd’s of London insured PMT Air flight U4 241, which crashed in the mountains in Kampot province killing all 22 aboard,
However, Bart Nash, media-relations executive for Lloyd’s, said his firm did not provide coverage for flight U4 241.
“[W]e do provide insurance to PMT Air, but not this plane,” he wrote by e-mail. “PMT Air has policies with several different insurers for different air crafts,” he wrote.
Sar Sareth said he did not know why Lloyd’s would deny being the insurer.
On Monday, Kao Sivoeun, director of flight operations at the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation, said that all flights are required by law to be insured. He added that he did not know what firm insured flight U4 241.“The company should know,” he said.
Sar Sareth also said recently that the families of the 13 South Koreans who perished in the crash had already been compensated financially. On Wednesday, however, Sar Sareth said that although compensation had been offered, the South Korean families have not accepted it.
“They have not been paid because we have a slight problem,” he said.
He added that the insurer, which he claimed was Lloyds, has also not paid the families of the five Cambodians killed in the crash as the company is still awaiting documents proving their relation to the victims.
A PMT staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, said Wednesday that PMT had already submitted documents proving the identities of the Cambodian families to the insurer. The staff member claimed that it was the insurance company, who he would not name, that was delaying the compensation process.
CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said an investigation of PMT’s insurance should be launched.
“But whether or not it has insurance, PMT should pay compensation to the victims,” he added.
