Battambang provincial authorities arrested a village chief and four other men Wednesday and accused them of killing a villager accused of theft, police said Sunday. The five men have remained in detention since their arrest.
Mann Chi, the chief of Tracheak Chet village in Tasen commune, Kamrieng district, has been charged with “intentional killing” for his alleged part in the death of Dauk Eng, 40, the villager who was accused of being a robber, officials said. Buth Phan, Thai Sitha, Sith Sovann and Mean Chamroeun, whom authorities also arrested Wednesday, are also being charged with the killing.
Battambang provincial court prosecutor Yann Yet said Sunday that the five men are being charged with the killing as well as with illegal possession of guns.
According to Yann Yet, the village chief and his men accused Dauk Eng of being a robber. Mann Chi allegedly ordered his men to tie Dauk Eng’s hands together before Dauk Eng was dragged from the village and shot to death with two assault rifles, said Chea Thaun, a deputy judicial police officer in Battambang. “The village chief should not have committed this crime,” Chea Thaun said.
Dauk Eng’s wife thought her husband was being taken to the commune office when the men dragged him out, Yann Yet said.
Mann Chi, a former Khmer Rouge soldier, was reported to have been imprisoned for a past killing, Yann Yet said. The prosecutor could not provide any details on Mann Chi’s past imprisonment or this latest killing.
