Sunday, May 18, 2008

Another arrest in Howes case

A plaque honouring Christopher Howes, across the street from Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh
Developments in the Christopher Howes murder case continued this weekend with the arrest of a fifth former Khmer Rouge cadre on charges of premeditated murder and illegal confinement. Fifty-two year old Puth Lim was detained in Kampot, near the south coast on Friday and joins four of his former KR colleagues under lock and key in Phnom Penh, pending a trial date. Puth is alleged to be the driver of the man, Khem Nguon, who is widely believed to be responsible for the death of Howes and his translator Houn Hourth a few days after their abduction in March 1996. Nguon served as number 2 to the notorious one-legged KR commander Ta Mok before his defection from the KR to join the Cambodian armed forces where he was awarded the rank of brigadier-general in the defence ministry. However, in a surprise move in November last year, Nguon and two other former communist rebels, Loch Mao (believed to be the man who shot Howes in the back), and Chep Cheat, were arrested and charged over the kidnapping and murder of the Bristol-based de-miner and his colleague. A fourth suspect, Sin Dorn, was arrested and jailed pending the trial only last week. All five men face 20 years in prison for premeditated murder and 10 years for illegal confinement if convicted.
For more on Christopher Howes, please visit my website here.

posted by Andy Brouwer at 1:01 AM

1 Comments:

Blogger Andy Brouwer said...

Today's Cambodia Daily (19 May) confirms the arrest of Puth Lim and notes that he's the 6th person to be arrested and held in custody.
Puth Lim was arrested in Kampot but had been in hiding in Anlong Veng according to the newspaper. Puth Lim was allegedly the driver for Khem Nguon and has confessed to transporting the two mine-clearers to the deaths. He was also identified as Pol Pot's graveyard keeper.

The deputy director of the PPenh Municipal Court, Ke Sakhorn said the cases have been transferred from the Siem Reap court because there were believed to be former Khmer Rouge leaders in Siem Reap who would have made investigations difficult!

The Cambodia Daily also include in theit list of 6 names that of Horm Hai, who was arrested quietly without the usual accompanying press reports.

So currently in custody at PPenh's Prey Sar Prison at the moment are;
Khem Nguon
Loch Mao
Chep Cheat
Sin Dorn
Horm Hai
Puth Lim

A date for their trial has not yet been set as investigations are still taking place - some twelve years after the murder of Christopher Howes and Houn Hourth.

May 19, 2008 10:39 AM  

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