Lieutenant Colonel Pheng Vannak was arrested and sent to court after his Facebook comments regarding the death of slain activist Kem Ley were deemed ‘incitement’. Hong Menea
Lieutenant Colonel Pheng Vannak, a popular figure on Facebook, was arrested by military police on Tuesday following an order from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, after his comment on Facebook regarding the death of slain activist Kem Ley was deemed “incitement”.
Court spokesperson Ly Sophana said on Tuesday that the prosecutor had issued a court summons for Vannak, who was brought in for questioning on Tuesday. Questioning would continue on Wednesday, he added.
Military Police spokesperson Eng Hy said officials had arrested Vannak and sent him directly to court without questioning.
The arrest came after Ky Tech, a lawyer representing Prime Minister Hun Sen, on Monday filed a lawsuit against Vannak.
Tech said in his complaint that Vannak had “ill intentions” in using social media to spread information publicly to defame Prime Minister Hun Sen in a March 29 Facebook post.
The Facebook post read: “Lim Chea Yutha, CEO of Fresh News, and the representative of the leader [Hun Sen] brought $50,000 to give to Dr Kem Ley’s family in order to build a stupa.
“Why didn’t senior minister Pich Sros file a complaint to the Anti-Corruption Unit? What is the difference when both [of us] brought other people’s money [for a good cause]?”
Cambodian Youth Party president Pich Sros filed a lawsuit against Vannak on Friday after he brought $5,000 from the father of teenager Yin Khun Mey who was driving a Range Rover that killed a scholarship student in a traffic accident last week to the family of the victim.
Sros alleged Vannak’s actions amounted to corruption.
But Vannak took to Facebook to hit back, comparing his actions to that of Fresh News CEO Chea Yutha, who brought Hun Sen’s contribution for a stupa for Ley to his family after the popular activist’s murder.
“There is a clear plan and ill intention in making such a comparison. The intention is to . . . put the blame on . . . Hun Sen, saying he was the killer of Kem Ley,” Tech wrote in his complaint dated Monday.
He said such words were written with the intention to confuse the public and allude blame to Hun Sen.
He added that there were comments on Vannak’s Facebook post in which confused people had suggested Hun Sen was Ley’s killer.
He continued that he had attached 14 pages of documents as evidence, along with the complaint letter, for the court to use in making a decision.
Tech requested the court charge Vannak with “defamation” and “incitement to commit offences” according to articles 305, 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code. He also requested the court to arrest Vannak “immediately in order to stop crimes which could cause public chaos and social insecurity”.
Ministry of National Defence spokesperson Chhum Socheat told The Post on Tuesday that Vannak was a lieutenant colonel at the personnel office of the Ministry of National Defence.
“He used his freedom without boundaries. In the military, there is discipline and leadership. The military serves the nation – but not him, who does something useless to society and to the military."
“His actions have only caused problems for himself. We have a lot of duties – we don’t have time to go on Facebook like him. So we support the [court’s] action."
“What he did has affected the dignity of his unit and the military because the army insists on strict discipline to defend the nation. We don’t waste our time doing [things like this] because it weakens discipline,” Socheat said.
