Cambodia leader angry over attack on TV star
PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s prime minister added his voice Thursday to growing outrage over a drunken tycoon who was captured on video viciously attacking a female TV star, warning that his riches will not help him escape justice.
What started earlier this month as the latest social media frenzy has turned into a national scandal in the southeast Asian country, where the wealthy often act with impunity and are widely known to pay for their crimes with cash rather than be prosecuted.
Prime Minister Hun Sen im- plicitly acknowledged the judicial system’s shortcomings and vowed that this time, justice will be served.
“Don’t think that because you have money you can escape,” he said in comments directed at property tycoon Sok Bun. “What you have done is intolerable.”
In a grainy black-and-white video, Sok Bun is seen dragging the well-known Cambodian actress known as Sasa off a couch at a Japanese restaurant in Phnom Penh. He throws her to the ground, kicks her head, and when she tries to get up, he punches, kicks and stomps on her in a beating that lasts about a minute.
The attack, which occurred in the early hours of July 2, was captured by the restaurant’s security cameras.
The actress and TV personality, whose real name is Ek Socheata, obtained the video from the restaurant and posted it last week on her Facebook page. “He pulled my hair and smashed my head against the floor,” Sasa told The Associated Press. The actress said she had been trying to protect a friend from the drunken advances of Sok Bun, who is middle-aged and married.
Sok Bun issued a pair of statements Tuesday to plead for mercy from his victim, society and Hun Sen.