Soldier, cop accused of menacing rival with gun

A SOLDIER and a military police officer were both released without charges on Saturday after allegedly threatening another man with a gun in Battambang the day before.

According to a police report of the incident, 22-year-old Phal Solysak filed a complaint against army Major Kim Khong, 27, and Phnom Penh military police officer Vuth Bun Suong, 30, for allegedly holding him at gunpoint in Battambang town’s Ratanak commune.

“The young men argued with each other … but they did not shoot, so we brought them in for questioning and the prosecutor educated them and released them,” Sar Thet, provincial police chief, said yesterday.

“They knew each other . . . We do not know what problems they had, but they wanted to fight each other,” Thet added, hanging up on a reporter without addressing why charges hadn’t been pressed.

A man reached yesterday who identified himself as Solysak’s father said he and his son just wanted to put the incident behind them. “We solved this problem, we want the case to be finished . . . The incident upset him, but we do not want to take it any further. Therefore we ended it, and the other side apologised,” he said.

Local media reported that Solysak had been eating at a restaurant on Friday evening when the two men allegedly approached him and demanded that he end a relationship with a woman. The argument evolved into a physical altercation, before both officials pulled out their guns. observers accused him of having attempted to quietly close controversial cases.

The scope of Muth’s case was expanded after the prosecution urged judges in October of 2014 to investigate additional crimes of forced marriage and rape in Kampong Som – now Preah Sihanouk province.

The investigation into Muth’s fellow Case 003 suspect Sou Met was terminated with his death on June 2, 2015.

A draft US bill in July last year stipulated the US would only provide further funds to the Khmer Rouge tribunal if it pushed ahead with Case 003, as Meas Muth was allegedly implicated in the 1975 capture of the SS Mayaguez, an incident that ultimately led to the deaths of 41 Americans.

The closure of the investigation into Muth comes a month after the investigation into Case 004 suspect Ao An was concluded and severed into Case 004/02, and two months after the tribunal upheld life sentences for former Brother Number Two Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan.