All the News Without Fear or Favor The Cambodia daily Volume 63 Issue 67 Wednesday, February 10, 2016 2,000 riel/50 cents Union Leaders Blast Charges Over Capitol Tours Protest By SeK odom and taylor o’Connell ThE cambodIa daIly Four labor leaders who were charged on Monday over their con - nection to a protest against the Cap - itol Tours bus company in Phnom Penh said yesterday that the legal action failed to account for basic facts, while advocates warned that following through with court pro- ceedings would only stoke further unrest. Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation (CLC), kong Athit, CLC secretary- general, union chief Eang kimhun, and labor association leader Sok Chhun oeung were all charged with intentional violence, obstruct- Reuters ing public officials and obstructing An unidentified injured man is escorted by riot police at Mong Kok in Hong Kong yesterday. Riot police used a public road, according to a state- batons and pepper spray to quell fights after authorities tried to move illegal street vendors from a working-class ment signed by deputy municipal Hong Kong district, leading to the worst street clashes since pro-democracy protests in late 2014. court prosecutor Srey Makney. The charges followed the ar- rests of a fired Capitol Tours bus Hong Kong Police Fire Shots in Street Clashes driver nan Vanna and la bor activist REUTERS kok, a tough, working-class neigh- protesters were arrested, Lo said. Ros Siphay, who were among 45 hong kong - hong kong riot police borhood just across the harbor hong kong television showed po- protesters attacked by armed tuk- fired warning shots yesterday during from the heart of the Asian finan- lice officers being beaten with poles tuk drivers on Saturday when they clashes that erupted in the Chinese- cial center. and sticks as they lay on the ground. attempted to block a bus from leav- ruled city when authorities tried to “We have noticed a shift in some Many protesters and police were ing the company’s depot in Prampi remove illegal street stalls set up for members of the public,” said hong also shown with blood stream ing Makara district. Mr. Vanna and Mr. Lunar new Year celebrations, the kong Police Commissioner Lo Wai- down their faces. Siphay ˙have been charged with the worst violence since pro-democracy chung. “[They] have an inclination Police said two warning shots same three crimes. protests in 2014. to use violence or radical acts in or - were fired into the air, with pepper The protest was part of an ongo- Demonstrators prised bricks der to express their opinion.” spray and batons also used to dis- ing campaign by 40 fired Capitol from the sidewalk to hurl at police, nearly 90 police sustained in- perse the crowd. Television foot - Tours drivers to get their jobs back. while others toppled street signs juries ranging from fractured bones age showed the shots were fired as and set fire to rubbish bins in Mong to lacerations and bruises, and 54 Continued on page 8 Continued on page 2 Vacated Bodyguard HQ Signals End of an Era By Khy Sovuthy placed by two posters flanking a dech Chea Sim,” he said. “I have and anthony JenSen metal gate—the image of a female seen that he has about five to six ThE cambodIa daIly security guard on one side, a male bodyguards, who go with Sam dech The former headquarters of late counterpart on the other—adver- whenever he goes anywhere.” CPP President Chea Sim’s per- tising the services of Libra Private Mr. Bun neang said members sonal bodyguard unit, which was Security. of Chea Sim’s bodyguard unit had disbanded following his death in While Chea Sim enjoyed the pro - been reassigned to Brigade 70— June, is now the office of a private tection of hundreds of armed body- the Royal Cambodian Armed security firm. guards, his successor as president Forces unit tasked with providing The large blue-and-red sign of the Senate, Say Chhum, has ta - security to high-level officials and Khmer Rouge Initially 'Loved' reading “Bodyguard Unit of Sam - ken a more relaxed approach to se- foreign dignitaries. By Cham, Expert Tells ECCC dech Akka Moha Thamma Pot - curity, Senate spokes man Mam Political analysts said there Page 6 hisal Chea Sim” above the en - Bun neang said yesterday. could be various reasons why Mr. trance to the compound on Street “Samdech Say Chhum does not Chhum’s security detail paled in cambodiadaily.com 19 in Phnom Penh has been re- have many bodyguards like Sam - Continued on page 2

មានដំណឹងបែែសមែួលជាភាសាខ្មែរនៅខាងក្នុង The Daily Newspaper of Record Since 1993 2 The Cambodia daily wEdnESday, fEbRUaRy 10, 2016 ANd AlSo NEWSMAKERS Alligator Stunt Lands Man in Jail nSunday’s national Football League Super Bowl halftime show featuring U.S. Marshals have arrested a the order. Coldplay, BeyonCe and Bruno marS has prompted more online com- Florida man accused of tossing an Though the incident took place ment, analysis and reaction than the game itself. The Black Panthers, not alligator into the drive-thru window in october, officials just made the the Carolina Panthers, are trending across social media. The question on of a Wendy’s restaurant in Royal arrest this week. WPTV reports that everyone’s mind? Was Beyonce’s performance, in which she stormed an Palm Beach, Florida, local televi- James faces charges of aggravated uneventful Coldplay medley with a new song called “Formation,” a political sion news station WPTV reported as sault and unlawful possession and call to action? The response was immediate, especially as she and her team yesterday. transportation of an al ligator. James’ danced their way into an “X” formation, tacitly referencing civil rights ac- According to WPTV, Joshua parents told WPTV their son is a tivist Malcolm X. on Fox news’ “Fox & Friends,” former new York mayor James, 24, threw the 1-meter alliga- prankster who meant no harm by and guest on the show, rudolph giuliani, added a dash of music criticism tor through the open window his alligator-tossing stunt. to his response. “I think it was outrageous. The halftime show I thought when a restaurant handed him a The alligator in question was re- was ridiculous anyway. I don’t know what the heck it was. A bunch of peo- drink and turned around to finish leased into a nearby canal. ple bouncing around and all strange things. It was terrible.” (LAT)

the court orders my arrest. What I Cambodia for Confederation De- tively made being a bystander a Charges... am accused of is the very opposite velopment Association. crime. he encouraged the court of what I do,” said Mr. Thorn, who “And as for obstructing a public to “find the real suspects, the ones Continued from page 1 has been the target of numerous official, why would I do that? When who attacked.” The drivers claim they were ille- le gal complaints, mainly for his police arrive, we always stay away,” “I watched it happen—does that gally dismissed for trying to union- work in the garment sector. he said. “I wonder if the court has automatically mean I participated ize under the CLC. “When [union members] have even checked the video footage.” in the activities?” While Mr. Vanna and Mr. Si phay problems, we have to assist and In the hours after the violence Sokhann Yon, labor program have been placed in provisional de- support them,” he added. “Unions broke out, local rights group Li- manager at the Cambodian Legal tention, Investigating Judge Ros Pi - have the right to go on strike or cadho released a video showing Education Center, said multiple seth said yesterday he would sum- pro test, but we never advise them the tuk-tuk drivers, in matching ngos—including Adhoc, Lica - mon the others to the Phnom Penh to create violence.” black helmets, descending upon dho and the Cambodian Center Municipal Court soon. And according to Mr. kimhun, the peace ful protest and beating for human Rights—met yesterday “We will summon the four oth- secretary-general of the Cambodia them with wooden poles and to discuss who would represent ers for questioning over the deputy Transportation Workers Federa- hammers. the charged men against the “un- prosecutor’s charges,” Judge Pi- tion, the fact that the tuk-tuk drivers Suth Men ghy, CCDA’s vice pres - founded” charges. seth said. “It won’t be long before who initiated the attack had faced ident, told reporters on Monday that Moeun Tola, director of labor we do.” no legal repercussions proved that his members had been prepared for rights group Central, said it was in Both Mr. Thorn and Mr. Athit, officials did not conduct a thorough a fight, enraged that months of pro - the authorities’ best interest to drop two of the country’s most promi- investigation. tests against Capitol Tours had af- the charges altogether. nent union leaders, said yesterday “Regarding the violence charge fected their business. “If they arrest the top leaders of that they were not present during —I didn’t cause it and it was start - Sok Chhun oeung, president the unions, I think there will be a Saturday’s protest and described ed by the CCDA,” he said, refer- of the Cambodian Informal Eco - big scandal,” he said. “I think the the charges as an injustice. ring to the notoriously combative no mic Work ers Association, said government is smart enough that “My members will defend me if tuk-tuk drivers affiliated with the the charges against him effec- they would not do that.”

in his life, Chea Sim created a month, a military court convicted can not demand the same thing, nor Bodyguard... sprawl ing political patronage net- him of illegally selling and destroy- should he,” he said. work in the 1980s that for more ing military property, as well as “Many of the Cambodian peo- Continued from page 1 than a decade made him one of the breach of trust. ple who have bodyguards do not comparison to his predecessor’s country’s most powerful men. ou Virak, a political analyst and have them for protection of the but agreed that Chea Sim’s mas- In a statement released following head of the Future Forum think body,” Mr. Virak said, pointing to sive force had little to do with his his death last year, human Rights tank, said bodyguards in Cambodia Mr. hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, personal protection. Watch said the former interior min- were largely a “power symbol,” and which numbers in the thousands. Political commentator kem Ley, ister would be remembered for one that he was happy to see dimin- “Does hun Sen really need the who last year founded the khmer creating a template for the misuse ished in the case of Chea Sim. bodyguard unit? You could have for khmer grassroots advocacy of state security forces. “I think it was basically Chea asked the same thing about Chea group, said Chea Sim’s bodyguard “his legacy continues to this day, Sim’s way of saying he was still im- Sim,” he added. “The answer is unit was largely a legacy of the fac- with unreformed security forces portant in the party. Say Chhum no.” tionalism within the ruling party in run for the interests of the ruling the late 1980s and 1990s. party instead of the public good,” “This was the conflict, and the the group’s Asia director, Brad ------International Brief ------chairs and vice-chairs [of the CPP] Adams, said in the statement. tried to recruit many, many body- Chea Sim’s massive bodyguard Turkey Admitting Controlled Number of Refugees guards until now,” Mr. Ley said. unit and his long list of advisers BUDAPEST/onCUPInAR, Turkey - Turkey is admitting Syrian refugees in a “Say Chhum at that time was in were notorious for finding them- “controlled manner” and has let in thousands fleeing Russian airstrikes, the middle. So that’s why I hope selves in legal trouble, with his for- its foreign minister said yesterday, warning that the numbers of new mi- Say Chhum will not recruit many mer bodyguard chief handed a grants could reach a million if the attacks continue. An assault by Russian- bodyguards,” he said, adding that 10-year prison sentence for a long backed Syrian government forces around the city of Aleppo has sent toward the end of Chea Sim’s life, list of crimes. more than 30,000 people fleeing to the Turkish border gate of oncupinar his bodyguards served in various Chhoeun Chanthan, the dis- in the past few days, and officials say tens of thousands more could be functions. graced bodyguard chief, was con- on the move. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey had so “The bodyguard is not only to victed in February 2012 of illegal far let in 10,000 people from the latest wave, but it was not immediately maintain the security of their boss, weapons possession, ordering the clear where on the border he was referring to. oncupinar has remained but their business also,” he said. use of weapons without proper au- closed in recent days to all but the most seriously wounded, some of them Although he served a mostly thority, forging documents and us - crossing by foot or brought in by ambulance, according to witnesses. The honorary role within the CPP later ing forged documents. In the same U.n. and E.U. have urged Turkey to open the crossing. (Reuters)