Journalists Beaten During Timber Investigation

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Khmer Times/Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

A high-ranking police official’s son was charged yesterday for allegedly beating two journalists after they questioned him over his dealings in the timber industry in Kratie’s Sambo district on Saturday night, according to deputy district police chief Captain Noy Sithach. The suspect in the case, 30-year-old Um Moninith, is a timber businessman and the son of Major Um Moninith, the Deputy Commander of Sambo district Military Police, Mr. Sithach added.

He was arrested on Saturday evening after allegedly beating Areyathor Newspaper journalist Kin Bunsuon and Phanhavoan Khmer Newspaper journalist Nuon Rann after a dispute with the reporters over the illegal smuggling of timber. Mr. Sithach said that at about 7:30pm on the night of the alleged beating, Mr. Um Moninith met with Mr. Bunson and Mr. Rann at a restaurant in Kbal Damrey commune’s Sre Treng village.

“While meeting the two victims, the suspect said to Kin Bunsuon ‘I want to beat you very much because you have always given me trouble’,” Mr. Sithach said. “When Kin Bunsuon asked Um Moninith why he wanted to beat him, Um Moninith then started punching him many times in the face, causing him to fall down on the ground,” he added.

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