Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday charged two men for their alleged involvement in Sunday’s failed bombing of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument in Phnom Penh, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Sok Roeun said.
“Soeung Than and Kim Toeun were charged with terrorism and illegal use of explosives,” he said before referring questions to Ke Sakhon, the investigating judge for the case.
Ke Sakhon said that he had questioned the two suspects for three hours and that they had repeated their Monday confessions to police that they had planted three bombs at the monument after receiving orders from the US-based leaders of the so-called Khmer Empire Movement.
“Now we decided to detain them in Prey Sar prison after we finished questioning them,” he said.
Pursat Provincial Court charged four Cham Muslim men in May with plotting to form the Khmer Empire Movement, which was allegedly dedicated to violently taking back Khmer and Cham territory lost centuries ago to Vietnam and Thailand.
The group’s alleged ringleader Thab The, 54, made claims in July that he was working for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to seek out terrorists in Cambodia.
US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle on Wednesday categorically denied Thab The’s allegations, which, he added, US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli described as “ludicrous.”
Cambodian authorities have not approached the Embassy about Sunday’s monument bombing, Daigle said.
(Additional reporting by James Welsh)
