Police have arrested one of two suspects in the shooting death last week of a Sam Rainsy Party activist in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district, but authorities say the victim was targeted for practicing black magic and not his political affiliation.
Kang Chit, 21, was detained by police on Aug 31 and on Friday was charged in the provincial court with murder, district police chief Nhem Dara said.
A day before the arrest, two gunmen shot Chhim Kok, a
55-year-old opposition member and Preak Chik village council chief, three times in front of his house. A second suspect has been identified but not yet apprehended, Nhem Dara said.
Nhem Dara said the suspect confessed to the shooting and led authorities to an AK-47. He said Kang Chit had a history of antagonism with Chhim Kok, evidenced by several public arguments.
The Sam Rainsy Party has called the killing political, and on Sunday the party’s secretary-general, Eng Chhay Eang, charged that an unnamed CPP official in the district had condoned the killing.
He also dismissed police’s claim that Kang Chit was motivated by fear of Chhim Kok, whom he branded a sorcerer.
“I think this killing was politically motivated, but the authorities now always claim that a killing is somehow caused by sorcery,” Eng Chhay Eang said.
In a separate incident Friday, a 40-year-old widow was strangled in Kompong Chhnang province.
Soeurn Hay, a mother of four, was found dead on the side of a road in Sambo district, where she apparently was strangled and robbed, said Hor Neath, an Adhoc investigator for Kompong Thom.
Soeurn Hay also was an opposition supporter, he said.
No arrests have been made.
