Parts of fingers, pieces of neck bone and human hair—along with five AK-47 shell casings—are the only remaining traces of evidence investigators can use to find out if soldiers executed people in Kratie’s Snuol district, a provincial prosecutor said Sunday
The bodies in the graves have disappeared, making prosecutor Pinh Vibol’s job all the more difficult in an already sensitive case.
“Fairly hard evidence has been destroyed,” said Pinh Vibol, who on Friday led a group of police officials, military officials, local authorities and human rights workers to the grave, which was surrounded by downed trees.
Human rights groups have accused soldiers in Snuol of detaining and executing six people for allegedly being members of “Khmer Serey,” or Free Khmer, a shadowy anti-government organization.
Human rights officials have maintained three of the bodies were buried in a shallow grave in Snuol, though they had not seen the bodies.
About two dozen other people were allegedly detained by soldiers and their whereabouts were unknown, human rights groups said. Kratie officials recently claimed that 18 of the 19 alleged missing persons are with their families.
Government officials have denied that soldiers were involved in the killings of the three people buried in Snuol, and instead have blamed bandits for the murders.
Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote to King Norodom Sihanouk that rights groups’ reports on the deaths were “seriously wrong as to the facts.” He said several bandits were killed in a separate area of Kratie during a shootout with RCAF soldiers.
Pinh Vibol declined to make any conclusions about whether soldiers were involved in the Snuol murders, but said the killings were indeed extrajudicial because evidence was being destroyed by unidentified persons.
“This case has become abnormal and complicated now, and it goes beyond my abilities as an investigator,” Pinh Vibol said, calling on the ministries of Interior and Justice to further investigate.
He said he is reporting to Justice Minister Uk Vithun, and provincial police are reporting to Interior co-Minister Sar Kheng to request that a higher committee be set up to look into the case.
Meanwhile, human rights groups, which have come under fire by the government, are remaining silent about the investigation for the time being. Hun Sen publicly criticized the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, an umbrella group that reported on the alleged extrajudicial killings, for protecting bandits.
Ly Heng, an investigator for the local rights group Adhoc who went with Pinh Vibol on the Friday trip, refused to comment Sunday and referred questions to Phuong Sith, director of Vigilance.
Phuong Sith is scheduled to chair a meeting on the case today with members from Adhoc, Vigilance and Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Protection Association attending.
“Please let us meet and analyze the report we have first,” he said.
