Former RCAF colonel Sath Soeun, whose name was tied to violent crimes throughout the 1990s, was arrested for the alleged Sunday night shooting of a companion in Kompong Cham town, military police said Monday.
Lak Leang, Kompong Cham Military Police deputy commander, said his men arrested Sath Soeun at 7 am Monday after the victim called from the provincial hospital and reported the incident. Sath Soeun allegedly shot Hach Sovannary twice in the back while the two men stopped to urinate, Lak Leang said.
“Sath Soeun made friends with the victim at a wedding party and they were coming home together on Sath Soeun’s motorbike. The victim told us Sath Soeun shot him for no reason,” the deputy commander said. “I detained him and will send him to prison [Monday]. We have accused him of murder and [possession of] an illegal weapon.”
During the 1990s, Sath Soeun was renowned for brutality and being impervious to gunfire. He remains more widely know by his nickname “Soeun Phendei,” or “Master of the Earth.”
Sath Soeun was arrested in December 1994 for the alleged murder of Koh Santepheap newspaper journalist Chan Dara, who was investigating the military’s involvement in illegal logging in Kompong Cham province. He was acquitted May 19, 1995.
In July 1995, police in Kompong Cham said they witnessed Sath Soeun execute a boy who had been mistaken for a thief. Police said then that the 16-year-old was still alive when they arrived. When they noted a need for medical attention, Sath Soeun said, “No need,” and finished the job with two more bullets. “Now you can feed him to the fish,” a military officer and witness, quoted Sath Soeun as saying.
Police officials in the province later cited fear for their own safety as one of the reasons Sath Soeun went unpunished.
In October 1996, witnesses reported that Sath Soeun and his men repeatedly attacked and terrorized those who inadvertently interfered with log rafts he floated down the Mekong river.
Sath Soeun was relieved of his military duty in 1998. A military official cited dereliction of duty.
“He remains bad, and he is jobless and poor if compared to the past,” Lak Leang said Monday.
Sath Soeun now lives on money from renting his Kompong Cham town villa to provincial governor Cheang Am, Lak Leang said.