Military officials accused the Phnom Penh Municipal Police on Monday of torturing a drug-smuggling suspect into implicating RCAF Major General Dom Hak, who was arrested last week and charged with drug trafficking.
“We are not happy at all that police were torturing a suspect with electric shocks in order to put the fault on Dom Hak,” one RCAF general said. “They should use legal means and obey the law.”
The accusation of torture came in a report from the RCAF infantry’s intelligence department, said officials who attended a meeting where the report was addressed.
Deputy Municipal Police Chief Heng Pov replied Tuesday that the government had created a committee of members of the Defense and Interior ministries to investigate the matter. The committee has “asked all suspects, and they said they were not tortured,” Heng Pov said. “Let the court work on this matter.”
Defense co-Minister Tea Banh confirmed Tuesday that stories of electroshock torture are circulating among military figures.
“I was told one of Dom Hak’s men was arrested and tortured, and he was forced to confess and to say that General Dom Hak was involved in drug trafficking,” Tea Banh said.
Tea Banh said he was told that the suspect contacted his wife by telephone and told her he had been tortured into implicating Dom Hak.
An officer in the Tuol Kok police force who arrested Dom Hak dismissed the allegations, saying that the Tuol Kok police station was too small to conduct tortures.
“We only questioned him, not using torture and electric shock,” he said. “If they could prove he had been tortured by electricity, the people who did it would be guilty,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
Dom Hak and RCAF Lieutenant Colonel Muon Sokhan were arrested last Friday in connection with an Oct 1 drug bust which uncovered 35 kg of heroin concealed in the walls and floor of a Tuol Kok house.
Dom Hak was charged as an accomplice to drug trafficking along with seven other suspects who were arrested, including former Ministry of Defense official Lim Samnang.
According to police reports, it was Lim Samnang’s confession that led the police to Dom Hak.
RCAF Deputy Commander-in-Chief General Meas Sophea also questioned the evidence against Dom Hak. “The suspect who accused Dom Hak is not Dom Hak’s man, he does not know him,” he said.
Meas Sophea added that the man who made the accusations was a drug addict and could not be considered a competent witness under any circumstances.
The police, he concluded, “have no evidence to accuse” Dom Hak.
“I will not support Dom Hak if he is guilty. But if he is not… those who accused him will be guilty,” Meas Sophea said.
Dom Hak is being held in military police custody, National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha said Monday.
Tea Banh said it was not yet time to send him to court.
“I do not say Dom Hak is right or wrong, or that this [police] report is true or not,” he said. “I want to see the truth. Until now it has not been clear, and the investigation is being continued.”
“We do not hesitate to punish anyone. But if it is not true, please find justice for him,” Tea Banh said.
“It is a big issue, and it affects [Dom Hak’s] reputation, his life, and the country’s reputation,” Tea Banh added.
