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General Hok Lundy Was Widely Feared
General Hok Lundy, Cambodia's Notorious and Brutal Police Chief, He Was Widely Feared
By Tom Fawthrop
The Guardian, Wednesday November 12 2008
General Hok Lundy, Cambodia's notorious police chief and close ally of prime minister Hun Sen, has died at the age of 58 in a helicopter crash. He was travelling from the capital, Phnom Penh, to the south-eastern province of Svay Rieng. None of the helicopter's other occupants - General Sok Saem, deputy commander of the Cambodian infantry, the pilot and co-pilot - survived the crash.
A four-star general and member of the politburo of the ruling CPP (Cambodian People's party), Hok Lundy was a man who inspired fear not only in opposition ranks, but also in members of his own party. Born in Svay Rieng, he first rose to prominence as the governor of Phnom Penh in 1990. Four years later, Hun Sen appointed him national police chief, reporting directly to the prime minister. He never took orders from Sar Kheng, his nominal boss as minister for the interior.
In the aftermath of a bloody power struggle in 1997 between partners in the coalition government, many royalist generals were captured and killed in cold blood. Hok Lundy played a key part in these mopping-up operations and extrajudicial executions. A Funcinpec (royalist) party minister, Ho Sok, was detained at the interior ministry and shot dead by a police unit there. It is known that Sar Kheng had ordered the police to ensure Ho Sok's safety, but Hok Lundy chose to handle things his own way, according to high-ranking sources close to the minister.
This was later confirmed by Heng Pov, the former Phnom Penh police chief, after he fell out with Hok Lundy. While he was on the run from criminal charges stacked against him, Heng Pov accused Cambodia's police supremo and security chief not only of murdering Ho Sok, but also the union leader Chea Vichea and film star Piseth Pilika, in revelations to the French magazine L'Express.
Diplomats in Phnom Penh routinely referred to Hok Lundy as a "thug". This reputation was further enhanced by his role in the burning of the Thai embassy in January 2003. The police chief, who was normally no fan of demonstrators, had permitted anti-Thai protestors to run riot, attacking Thai-owned properties all over Phnom Penh. In the aftermath of this violence he persuaded the prime minister to sack the capital's popular governor, his arch-rival Chea Sophara, as a scapegoat.
That Hun Sen sided with his police chief was no surprise, as Hok Lundy had already married his daughter off to one of Hun Sen's sons, thus consolidating close family ties among Cambodia's clannish ruling elite.
Lundy was also implicated in drug trafficking, the return of refugees to countries where they faced persecution and human trafficking. Two US Drug Enforcement Agency officials and a former unnamed US ambassador to Cambodia confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the US government was aware of Hok Lundy's involvement in drug trafficking. In February 2006, the US State Department's human trafficking office specifically cited Hok Lundy's alleged involvement in human trafficking as grounds for denying him a visa. That decision was linked to a brothel raid in December 2004, after which Hok Lundy reportedly ordered the release within hours of several traffickers, before an investigation could be conducted.
However, after 9/11 the Cambodian government had become cooperative in the war on terrorism. In March 2006, the month after the refusal of a visa, the FBI nonetheless awarded Hok Lundy a medal for his support for the US global war on terrorism, and the US ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli, praised Lundy's cooperation with the US in drug trafficking and human smuggling. State Department officials confirmed at the time that Hok Lundy had been invited to visit the FBI specifically because of his purported cooperation in counterterrorism. When, in April 2007, the FBI invited him to Washington for such discussions, Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, commented: "Hok Lundy's alleged involvement in political violence and organised crime in Cambodia means that the FBI should be investigating him, not hosting him."
The sudden death of a man who had made many enemies has sparked much speculation in Cambodia that the helicopter crash may not have been an accident, despite reports of bad weather. The helicopter caught fire, and the government has promised an investigation. Many people would have cause to celebrate the death of Cambodia's Mr Untouchable.
A French online agency, K-Set, has reported that Chea Mony, the brother
of the slain trade unionist and presidentof the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, has said that the death of the top policeman means that the number of murders of politicians, entertainers and Cambodian reporters will undoubtedly be reduced, but regrets that he was never brought to justice.
Hok Lundy, soldier and police chief, born 1950; died November 9 2008Labels: American Politics, Chea Vichea, Corruption, CPP, Ho Sok, Hok Lundy, Human Traffic, hun sen, MARCH 30 1997, UN Human Rights Report
Government Mourns Police Chief's Death
Cambodian Government Mourns Police Chief's Death
Hok Lundy's funeral (Photo: Pring Samrang, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)
Click on the photo to zoom in (Photo: Koh Santepheap newspaper)
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia's government began preparations Monday for the funeral of the country's controversial national police chief, a close ally of Prime Minister Hun Sen who was killed in a helicopter crash.
Police Commissioner-General Hok Lundy, 51, died Sunday night when the helicopter he was traveling in crashed in Svay Rieng province in southeastern Cambodia, apparently because of bad weather.
Hok Lundy had a reputation for ruthlessness as well as loyalty to Hun Sen, whose son is married to the late police chief's daughter.
"His death is bound to be a significant loss to Prime Minister Hun Sen" with whom he had both good working and personal relationships, said Lao Monghay, a senior researcher of Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.
Police Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police force, described Hok Lundy's death as "a great national loss and a profound sorrow for the police force."
Last year, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch urged the U.S. government to cancel a visa issued to Hok Lundy to attend an FBI-sponsored conference on human trafficking, accusing him of having ordered an extrajudicial killing and involvement in drug smuggling and human trafficking.
Cambodian government officials dismissed the Human Rights Watch allegations as nonsense.
Hok Lundy attended the conference, though the U.S. had denied him a visa in early 2006 for reasons never made public.
Hok Lundy's helicopter lost contact with air controllers about 15 minutes after it took off from the capital, Phnom Penh, on Sunday, Khieu Sopheak said. He said bad weather was likely responsible, but an investigation is under way.Labels: Hok Lundy, hun sen
General Hok Lundy, dies in helicopter crash
Cambodian police chief, General Hok Lundy, dies in helicopter crash
09 Nov 2008
Source: Reuters
PHNOM PENH, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Cambodia's national police chief, a close ally of Prime Minister Hun Sen, was killed with three other people in a helicopter crash on Sunday evening, the information minister said.
General Hok Lundy was on his way from the capital, Phnom Penh, to his native province of Svay Rieng accompanied by a military general and two pilots.
"According to the information I received, no one survived the crash," Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told Reuters.
The cause of the crash was unclear. The private helicopter came down in Romduol district, about 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Phnom Penh, officials said. (Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould)Labels: Hok Lundy
In Cold blood
In Cold blood: He did not think he had put himself in danger because he did not identify the officer by name,” the source said on condition of anonymity. Several others – all of whom requested anonymity, citing concern for personal security – said that Khim Sambo was writing about Cambodian National Police Commissioner Hok Lundy.
Hok Lundy prior to his departure for a visit to the US (Photo: AFP)
A woman prays in front of a portrait of journalist Khim Sambo, who was murdered along with his son in a Phnom Penh street on July 11. Police, who are being aided by the FBI, say they have no suspects in the case. Photo: AFP
In Cold blood
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong)
The circumstances surrounding journalist Khim Sambo’s murder point to official involvement, writes Vincent MacIsaac
"They had no fear of being arrested. They weren’t wearing helmets and made no attempt to disguise their identity" - Chan Soveth, of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association"
Two weeks before he and his 21-year-old son were shot dead, Cambodian journalist Khim Sambo reported on a not uncommon topic in opposition-affiliated newspapers. When gamblers from the upper echelons of the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP), accompanied by armed bodyguards or police, have prolonged losing streaks, it sometimes erupts in anger and even violence.
“When they lose, and cannot borrow more from the casino, they arrest the casino owners,” he wrote under one of his numerous pseudonyms, Srey Ka, in the June 28-29 weekend edition of the daily Khmer Conscience, which is affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).
However, Khim Sambo – whose own anger needed to be “toned down”, according to a former colleague – went further than most, mocking the behaviour of a senior police officer described by many as “one of the most dangerous men in Cambodia”.
He reported on an incident that allegedly occurred – SRP newspapers are often accused of fabrication or exaggeration – on June 25 at a casino complex at a border crossing with Vietnam in the town of Bavet in Svay Rieng province.
After losing his shirt at Le Macau Casino and Hotel, the officer borrowed from the casino, lost that, borrowed more – and lost again. When the casino manager refused to lend any more, he had him arrested by the junior officers accompanying him, Khim Sambo reported.
He went further, describing how the officer stacked the deck: “When he loses US$100,000, the casino returns US$50,000. But he plays until losing the returned money, and demands to borrow more. If any casino owner dares to say ‘no’, he threatens to arrest him.”
Khim Sambo did not identify the officer by name but dropped enough hints so that when he concluded his report by stating “there is no need to name [the CPP gamblers] because everyone in Cambodia knows who they are”, he assumed readers would be able to identify the officer, a source said.
“He did not think he had put himself in danger because he did not identify the officer by name,” the source said on condition of anonymity. Several others – all of whom requested anonymity, citing concern for personal security – said that Khim Sambo was writing about Cambodian National Police Commissioner Hok Lundy.
The former governor of Svay Rieng province has been at the top of Cambodia’s police force since 1994. “There is hardly anyone in Cambodia who has shown more contempt for the rule of law than Hok Lundy,” Human Rights Watch has said. He “represents the absolute worst Cambodia has to offer”, it said.
“We believe the killing is related to that article,” Son Chhay, the whip of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party claimed, though he declined to identify the subject of the article.
The editor of Khmer Conscience, Dam Sith, who had been jailed on defamation charges in June, said he knew nothing about the article when interviewed by phone last Thursday.
That day, he was interviewed by one of the two agents from America’s FBI, said to be “supporting” their Cambodian counterparts in the investigation.
“I told them I don’t know anything about who is behind the killing, and that I hope they find who it is,” he said.
Chan Soveth, a programme officer at the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, warned that “if the FBI cannot work independently [their assistance] is just a political game”.
He arrived at the scene of the double homicide about 30 minutes after it occurred at about 6.30pm on July 11 and has been investigating ever since. He fears the police are protecting the perpetrators rather than trying to solve the crime.
Khim Sambo, 47, bled to death on the side of a busy street in central Phnom Penh, minutes after being shot twice in the back while riding a motorcycle driven by his son Khat Sarinpheata. The young man died the next day in a Phnom Penh hospital, after being shot twice while cradling his dying father, said Chan Soveth.
The killers, two men on a motorbike who approached Khim Sambo and his son from behind, were probably hired assassins, he said, pointing out that they used a K-49 pistol with a silencer.
“They had no fear of being arrested. They weren’t wearing helmets and made no attempt to disguise their identity. They acted like they were under protection,” Chan Soveth said.
When he arrived at the scene, he was able to gather information from bystanders but, when he returned the following morning, no one would speak to him, he said. Silence permeates human rights groups in Cambodia. When asked who he thought was behind the killing, Chan Soveth declined to answer. “I want to continue living in Cambodia,” he said.
He believes the murders were intended to create an atmosphere of fear ahead of the July general election, which the CPP won by a landslide. This view was widely promoted by Cambodian and international human rights groups who expressed outrage following the killing.
But SRP whip Son Chhay disputes that there was any link between the killings and the election. “It was not a political killing,” he said. “There was no order from the top of the CPP,” he said. “[Prime Minister] Hun Sen does not know who is behind the killings. If Hun Sen knew who was behind the killings, the FBI would not have been allowed to join the investigation.”
He added: “The FBI has been allowed in because the CPP believes they will be unable to find evidence of government involvement,” though he in no way suggests that the CPP has turned benevolent.
“Their behaviour, their totalitarian thinking is very much like the Khmer Rouge. Either you support the CPP or you are an enemy of the state. Killing opposition members is acceptable,” he said.
Son Chhay and Chan Soveth said they feared that the FBI was likely to be used by the Cambodian police to provide a veneer of legitimacy to what the latter described as a “sham investigation”.
Son Chhay noted: “They have this great ability to manipulate the international community and they will manipulate the FBI to make sure nothing happens [with the investigation].”
This is already happening, he said, pointing to a police statement published in the Cambodia Daily this month quoting Phnom Penh’s police commissioner as saying that an “FBI official had agreed that the killings were motivated by someoneseeking revenge against the journalist’s son”.
Senior police officers have suggested that the target of the killers was not Khim Sambo but his son.
In his initial report into the crime, Chan Soveth found no evidence thateither the father or the son were involved in a personal dispute that could have led to their murders.
US embassy spokesman John Johnson said he was aware that some human rights investigators had accused the local police of a cover-up. Because the investigation was ongoing, he said, he could not comment on the details of the case.
The FBI agents were playing a “purely supportive” role in the investigation at the invitation of the interior ministry, he said. Besides two investigators, who arrived on September 14, a forensic artist had arrived last week to assist localpolice with a sketch of the assailants, he added.
One day after meeting the FBI agents, Phnom Penh deputy police chief Hy Prou, who is in charge of the investigation, said there were no leads on a suspect and that the complexities of the case made investigating it difficult.
However, the fact that editor Dam Sith was interviewed for the first time after the FBI agents arrived could signal that the bureau is nudging the Cambodian police in a new direction – towards the articles Khim Sambo wrote before he was killed.
In an interview at his home last Saturday, Dam Sith said that one of the questions asked by the FBI agent, who was accompanied by a translator from the US embassy and two Cambodian officers, concerned the kind of articles Khim Sambo had written for him. He said he replied: “A lot of articles about different things.”
Dam Sith is a father with three young children. Since Khim Sambo’s killing he does not leave his home unless he has to. He looked like he had not slept in weeks and was in a highly nervous state.
In 2006, Hok Lundy was denied a US visa due to allegations that he was involved in drug and human trafficking. The following month, however, the FBI awarded him a medal for his efforts in fighting terrorism. In April last year, he was finally granted a US visa, to attend a counter-terrorism workshop.Labels: CPP, Hok Lundy, Journalism, journalist
Hun Sen reinstates Ho Sok suspects
Hun Sen Reinstates Ho Sok Suspects
Written by Jason Barber and Chea Sotheacheath
Friday, 10 October 1997 (Phnom Penh Post)
H UN SEN personally signed an order reinstating three police generals suspended from their positions in connection with the execution of Funcinpec stalwart Ho Sok, officials have confirmed.
The Second Prime Minister was requested to issue the order by the Director-General of the National Police, General Hok Lundy, who has been accused of participating in the killing.
Co-Ministers of Interior Sar Kheng and You Hockry did not sign the document. It was signed by Hun Sen in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), before his Sept 22 departure for a trip abroad.
Sources said the situation has raised tensions over the lines of authority between Sar Kheng and Hok Lundy, who are both senior CPP members, and the power of the Prime Minister to override his Minister.
Sar Kheng, contacted by telephone Oct 7, said: "I did not oppose that [the generals' reinstatement], but I would have liked to keep them [suspended] for a little longer while we are investigating.
"But now they have already been released... the story is over and I should not say more on that, to avoid any further problem in the future."
Earlier, Sar Kheng - in what observers interpreted as a sign of unhappiness at Hun Sen and Hok Lundy undermining his authority - reportedly went on public record as saying that he knows who killed Ho Sok.
"We have learned the identity of the killer," Sar Kheng reportedly told the Cambodia Daily newspaper Sept 23, the day after Hun Sen left Cambodia.
"I hope that the killer will be arrested soon," Sar Kheng was quoted as saying. He declined to name the suspect, saying: "You don't want to know such a sensitive thing."
Sar Kheng, subsequently contacted by the Post, claimed that he had said no such thing. "I don't know who the killer is. If I knew the killers, I would arrest them immediately," he said.
But one of his aides, General Khieu Sopheak, said: "I think that His Excellency Sar Kheng said that the killer has been identified. He also said that it was too early to move, that we have to let the police complete the investigation."
Khieu Sopheak confirmed that the three Ministry of Interior generals suspended after the killing had been reinstated by order of "the high Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, a four-star general, Samdech Hun Sen".
He said that Hun Sen had signed the order at the request of Hok Lundy, who had submitted a report to the Prime Minister explaining that "the three generals were not involved...in the killing".
Asked whether Sar Kheng and You Hockry had signed the reinstatement order themselves, Khieu Sopheak said there was no need for them to do so. Hun Sen had already signed it, he said, and "the Ministry of Interior respects the order from the very high position of Samdech Hun Sen".
Sopheak, however, denied that the approval of Hun Sen would be required before an arrest could be made in the Ho Sok case. "This is a criminal offense case; there is no need to ask the approval of the Commander-in-Chief, only the court."
Another senior police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not so sure. Asked whether Sar Kheng would pursue an arrest, the official replied: "In Cambodia, a Minister does not have full authority... he could be over-ruled by a Prime Minister, for example."
The official also referred to blurred lines of power between Hok Lundy and Sar Kheng, asking: "If the Director-General [of the National Police] has the rank of Minister, what are the lines of authority?"
After the July 5-6 fighting in Phnom Penh, in which he played an active role, Lundy was appointed an advisor - with the rank of Minister - to the co-Prime Ministers. Sar Kheng and Hok Lundy therefore hold the same rank, though Sar Kheng also holds the position of Deputy Prime Minister.
However, under a decree passed in late 1995, the Ministry of Interior's security forces are under the ultimate control of the co-Commanders-in-Chief of RCAF - the Prime Ministers. Sources said that it was under this decree, in one of the first times that it has been used, that Hun Sen ordered the generals' reinstatement.
Hok Lundy is a known close ally of Hun Sen, while Sar Kheng is widely considered a potential rival to the Second Prime Minister within the CPP.
Ho Sok - the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Interior and one of several Funcinpec officials accused by CPP of illegally bringing weapons and troops to Phnom Penh - was shot dead at the ministry's Phnom Penh headquarters after being captured by CPP forces July 7.
As pressure mounted on the government to bring those responsible to justice, three CPP police generals - Ma Chhoeun, in whose office Ho Sok was killed, his deputy Tharn Im and Thong Lim, the director of the ministry's criminal investigation department - were indefinitely suspended. The suspensions were ordered July 24 by Sar Kheng and his co-Minister, You Hockry (Funcinpec), who also established a team to investigate the murder.
Hok Lundy - who has previously denied any involvement in the killing - said Oct 7 that the generals' reinstatement had been proposed by the investigation team.
"In fact, the generals have no fault," he said by telephone. "Their mistake was just not providing security to protect Ho Sok from being killed... [they] did not order someone to kill Ho Sok."
Asked if the killer was known, Hok Lundy said the Post should ask the head of the investigation team, Luy Savun, a Funcinpec police officer. Savun declined to comment to the Post.
There have been persistent rumors that Ho Sok was killed by Hok Lundy or by the police chief's bodyguards, culminating in a public accusation by Julio Jeldres, the King's official biographer.
In a Sept 9 letter to the Post, Jeldres claimed that information from an unidentified witness to Ho Sok's murder implicated Hok Lundy in the killing. CPP officials who denied that Hok Lundy killed Ho Sok were being "economical with the truth," Jeldres wrote.
Ho Sok's widow, now in exile in Thailand, has written to the UN Secretary-General accusing Hun Sen and Hok Lundy of responsibility for her husband's murder.Labels: Funcinpec, Ho Sok, Hok Lundy, hun sen, Sar Kheng
