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| David Chanaiwa (left) and Prak Ou Fie, who were arrested on Tuesday after wrecking their car and then allegedly beating 10 journalists, appear at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. Photograph: Sreng Meng Srun/Phnom Penh Post |
Yean Sina
21 March 2013By Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday fired Yean Sina,
an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, accusing him of
taking part in the vicious beating of 10 journalists after a car crash
in the capital just past midnight on Tuesday.
Labelling Sina an “old gangster”, the prime minister delivered a
scathing assessment of the Funcinpec member’s alleged behaviour – as one
of a gang of seven – before revealing he had made the decision to end
Sina’s time in government.
“I have already written a letter expelling him from his position and
work,” Hun Sen said during a speech at a technology institute. “Old gangsters
– the undersecretary of state and a former lawyer, David Chanaiwa –
drove these cars, caused an accident and then beat up a group of
journalists. I’m waiting to see whether or not these people will evade
the law.”
Hun Sen said he would closely monitor legal proceedings again Sina,
who has not yet been detained by police, and Chanaiwa, whom Hun Sen knew
as the man who had driven a Hummer through public gardens bearing his
name.
Chanaiwa, 41, a disbarred lawyer who was sentenced in
absentia last year to 18 months in prison for firing his gun – time he
didn’t serve – and his nephew, Prak Ou Fie, also known as
Ma Ou Fie, 20, were arrested on Tuesday, accused of attacking the
television and newspaper journalists.
According to police, the perpetrators had been in two cars that
crashed on Monivong Boulevard shortly after midnight and turned on
journalists after they arrived on the scene. One man was seriously
injured in the attack.
Major Bun Sathya, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police’s
minor crimes office, said Ou Fie and Chanaiwa – a Khmer-American who
arrived in Cambodia in 1994, served time as a policeman, was once an
adviser to Senate President Chea Sim and was banned from the Cambodian
Bar Association in 2003 – were charged yesterday and sent to Prey Sar
prison.
“David Chanaiwa was charged with intentionally causing injuries and
using an illegal weapon,” he said. “His nephew was charged with
intentionally causing injuries.”
In an interview with the Post yesterday, Chanaiwa and Ou Fie denied
the charges against them and said they had not been drag-racing prior to
the crash.
“I did not beat any journalists on that night,” Chanaiwa, the former
chairman of the now-defunct Brothers Investment Group, said, adding that
the journalists had exaggerated the story. “I deny all accusations
against me. This case was a traffic accident, but it was not caused by
me.”
Chanaiwa said the only reason he had been at the accident scene was to help his nephew, who was in one of the cars.
“If I had really been involved, I would’ve fled from the scene.”
In relation to his shooting conviction, Chanaiwa said he was
appealing the guilty verdict, because he had been in the US at the time
of the incident.
“These allegations were made up by the police,” he said. “To find justice, I will appeal to higher courts.”
Seak Vannak, the two men’s defence lawyer, said Chanaiwa’s new charge
of using an illegal weapon was not related to the attack on the
journalists, adding that his client had been separately convicted in
absentia on February 29 to an additional 18 months in prison over
another incident.
As for Sina, Major Bun Sathya said a warrant for his arrest would be issued today.
“I think he will be arrested very soon,” he said.
Sina, who is in his forties, could not be reached for comment.
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