Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief Sar Thet (pictured) has said he will summon Khem Khom and three police officers accused of attacking Khom for talks to put an end to the dispute. POST PIX
An Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) official who claimed he was attacked by policemen from Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district has said he hopes to receive justice.
The chief of Phnom Penh Municipal Police has said he will summon both sides for talks to put an end to the dispute.
Two Dangkor district deputy police chiefs and a traffic policeman are alleged to have assaulted ACU official Khoem Khom in a “misunderstanding” after a traffic accident on the night of April 9.
Negotiations were proposed after the three police officials were summoned to answer questions at the Phnom Penh Municipal Police serious crimes office.
Khom, the alleged victim of the assault, told The Post on Sunday that he had not yet been called to answer questions regarding the attack.
He said he had not heard from Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief Sar Thet but said some Dangkor district police had reached out to him and asked him to withdraw his complaint and end the matter without going to court.
Khom, 64, said he had not decided what course of action to take and was yet to respond to requests for dialogue as he first needed to talk with judicial authorities.
“After the incident, I filed a complaint with Phnom Penh Municipal Police. I have not yet received an update from them."
“I hope Sar Thet, the Municipal Police chief, can find justice for me because he has helped many people. As for negotiations or other matters, I cannot talk of that right now. The law will decide. If I was in the wrong, I should face punishment according to the law,” Khom said.
Dangkor district police chief Chim Sitha told The Post on Sunday that he had forwarded the case to the chief of Phnom Penh Municipal Police.
“I cannot tell you anything else,” Sitha said.
Sar Thet, Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief and deputy head of the National Police, told The Post on Sunday that people had been summoned to answer questions but no one had been detained.
“We asked questions about the incident and found out what they did, but we didn’t detain anyone. I am aware of this case and we’re handling it now. Hopefully both parties can negotiate a compromise,” he said.
Khom’s complaint says that on the night of the incident he was driving a Prius car when it was overtaken by another Prius which collided with his, causing damage.
He was unable to give chase, he said, because the other car was driving too fast.
Khom said he was then chased by police in some six cars and on motorbikes. At Prek Thloeng pagoda, he said, he was attacked by the officials, who did not wait to ask questions.
“As a victim, I ask the Municipal Police chief to find the offenders who violently assaulted me. I was innocent and too weak to protect myself, while the offenders were wearing police uniforms and came at me in a group."
“I ask the [Municipal Police] to find and punish the offenders in the strictest manner, and I ask for $50,000 in compensation to cover medical costs and mental compensation,” the complaint reads.
