Moeun Saramith, who was detained by authorities after an altercation between journalists and those involved in a car wreck near Phnom Penh’s Wat Phnom on Sunday, was released yesterday after it was determined that he had been a bystander.

Journalists covering the crash said on Monday that they were beaten and shot at by a group of people involved in the accident. But Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Keo Socheath said yesterday that witnesses testified that he was not involved with the December 21 accident. The guilty party was not arrested and is still unidentified, he added.

Saramith said yesterday that he had just been looking at the crash with his girlfriend and cousin, but was grabbed after one journalist “pretended to fall down in front of my leg, and other journalists shouted that he was beaten”.

However, Yim Visal, a reporter for Cambodia Express News, maintained that Saramith had attacked a reporter, and said it was Saramith’s associate that fired the shots.