Kheng Sokha, the Phnom Penh police officer at the centre of a wild cockfighting arena face-off with local cops in Kampong Speu last week, has been temporarily suspended from his position, municipal police said yesterday.

“[Sokha] must show up to the personnel bureau . . . to make amends and wait for a decision,” reads a directive signed January 30 by Phnom Penh municipal police chief Chuon Sovan.

Kampong Speu provincial police chief Sam Samoun, whose men were allegedly intimidated by a large group led by Sokha and forced to sit down in the cockfighting arena itself, welcomed the decision to suspend Sokha but declined to give the names of the five additional individuals involved in the incident.

“We have given the names to the head of Sokha’s unit and the five have received a summons,” Samoun said, adding that he welcomed the municipal police chief’s efforts to comply with the law.