A policeman on Friday shot and wounded a Funcinpec member and burned three homes belonging to Funcinpec officials in Kompong Cham province before killing himself, authorities said, describing the incident as a drunken rampage.
Loy Voeun, 26, a policeman in Sdav commune, Kang Meas district, fired 27 bullets from an AK-47 assault rifle and hit a Funcinpec member identified only as Knoy in the shoulder, Thav Kimlong, the deputy governor of Kompong Cham, said on Sunday.
The policeman also burned down three homes and a truck in the commune before shooting himself in the chest with the assault rifle, said Bum Born, penal police chief of Kompong Cham province.
“No one ordered him to…shoot at the villagers—he was heavily drunk,” Bum Born said. “We have received some reports about this problem, and I have ordered my colleagues to conduct a further investigation, but right now we cannot comment about whether or not this is related to politics.”
Since Loy Voeun allegedly killed himself, the Ministry of Interior will not investigate. “This case is normal and is not a problem,” a Ministry of Interior official said on Sunday. “He killed himself, so the case is finished.”
Despite this, some Funcinpec officials have condemned the assault against a Funcinpec member and the burning down of houses belonging to Funcinpec officials as a political act.
“This is a case of intimidation,” said Serey Kosal, security adviser for Funcinpec, on Sunday. “All the violence was directed against Funcinpec members.”
He added that the incident may have been a message sent to the party because party President Prince Norodom Ranariddh was in Kang Meas district on Saturday—the day after the shooting—to open a pagoda.
Funcinpec Secretary-General Prince Norodom Sirivudh on Sunday, however, said it was still too early to determine the motive behind the policeman’s actions.
“We need to wait for a full investigation,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Funcinpec senator Kem Sokha, who now heads the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, criticized the royalist party for not providing adequate safeguards for its members.
“Funcinpec is in a coalition with the CPP so it can have increased security. So what good is the coalition when Funcinpec members keep getting intimidated or killed?” he said. “Why can’t they protect their own people?”
