Phnom Penh (Cambodia), 26/06/2008. National Police chief Hok Lundy coming out of his helicopter after a trip to the site of the PMT Air crash in Kampot the day before
© Archives - Stringer
Cambodia's top policeman Hok Lundy, who had been serving since 1994, was the unbudgeable one. The four-star general, aged 50 (and not 58, as stated in the first publication of this article), died in the early evening on Sunday 9th November in a helicopter crash on the way from the capital city to his native province of Svay Rieng in the south-east of Cambodia. The accident claimed the lives of all four passengers - Hok Lundy, deputy army commander Sok Sa Em and the two pilots.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith claimed on Monday 10th November not being aware of the reasons for the trip, organised after the celebrations of the 55th anniversary of the independence of Cambodia, which Hok Lundy attended. On the morning of the 10th, deputy national police chief Sok Phal went to Hok Lundy's place of residence in Phnom Penh, where his body had been repatriated, to pay homage to the police chief. He refused to make any comment regarding that matter to the media and precised that an inquest had been opened. He added that Neth Savoeun would be standing for the position of national police chief until Hok Lundy's official successor is appointed. Hok Lundy's funeral, the date of which was not settled or communicated at the time of writing, will take place in the Svay Rieng province where he died.
Often criticised by Human rights activists
Hok Lundy had been appointed governor of the Svay Rieng province in 1993 before taking over the position of national police Commissioner at the Ministry of Interior. He always remained very active in his province where he had opened a private university. Holding one of the best seats in Hun Sen's inner circle, he had strengthened the bonds with the Prime Minister with their respective children's wedding and was not known to be on good terms with Human rights campaigners. Untouchable, the many allegations according to which he may have organised human and drug trafficking or the murder of certain important persons, whether political or from the media sector, never shook the general in his functions. He was keen to repeat, in the rare interviews he agreed to grant, that he had nothing to reproach himself for, prompting his detractors to provide evidence for their accusations.
Heng Pov's accusations
Union leader Chea Vichea, singer and film star Piseth Peaklica, Minister Hok Sok: three murders that, according to former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov, may have been organised by Hok Lundy. These staggering revelations came as Heng Pov was on the run outside of Cambodia, on the occasion of an interview with the newspaper L'Express. The interview, entitled “Les basses oeuvres de Hun Sen” - “Hun Sen's dark practices” - was published in the weekly French paper in August 2006. Heng Pov did not hesitate to proclaim the implication of his superior in the March 1997 grenade attack against a demonstration organised by Sam Rainsy, which claimed the lives of more than a dozen people. He also presented Hok Lundy as the person in charge of implementing and carrying out Hun Sen's “illegal actions”, adding that their connivance dated back to 1979 when they met in Vietnam. Heng Pov had then been tracked down and deported to Cambodia where he is currently serving a sentence for the many crimes Cambodian Justice accused him of having committed.
Hok Lundy redeemed by the FBI
In 2007, Hok Lundy's invitation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to go to Washington and discuss their cooperation in the fight against terrorism had triggered an outcry on the part of Human rights activists, among which the organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW). At the time, Brad Adams, director of the HRW Asia branch, had insisted, shocked, that “Hok Lundy's alleged implication in those acts of political violence and organised crime in Cambodia should lead the FBI to investigate his actions, not to welcome him”.
This invitation was seen as a drastic change in America's attitude towards the Cambodian police general whereas in 2006, just a year before, Hok Lundy had been denied a U.S. Visa by the State Department on grounds of “alleged involvement in human trafficking”. Nevertheless, a month later the top policeman was being awarded a medal by the FBI for his efforts in fighting international terrorism...
A death giving rise to many questions
It is now time for speculation on the general's death: unfortunate accident due to bad weather or... conspiracy? To Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), it does not matter, and the death of the top policeman means without any doubt a reduction in the number of murders or political persons, stars or journalists in Cambodia. “Yet, I regret that he has not been brought to justice. [...] When he was in authority, nobody would dare challenging him. His death now prevents any attempt to identify his accomplices.”
Other activists were questioned but preferred adopting a more neutral position. ADHOC, the Association for the defence of Human rights, offered their condolences to the family of the deceased through its investigator Chan Soveth and will have a funeral wreath sent to them. For his part, Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, asked the government to carry out a thorough inquest so as to shed light on Heng Pov's accusations about Hok Lundy as well as the reasons for the crash that claimed the life of the police Commissioner on November 9th.
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