A tycoon charged with firing his gun in the air during an altercation between opposition supporters and party guests during the lead-up to July’s national election was released on bail last week by the Appeal Court, a court official said.

According to Hean Rith, vice prosecutor of the Appeal Court, Khy Kimlon – who is also a colonel with the National Military Police – was released on September 6 after a closed-door hearing at the court on August 22 presided over by the court’s vice president, Seng Sivutha.

“He was allowed by the council of judges of the Appeal Court to stay outside of detention because his case is a misdemeanour,” Rith said, noting that Kimlon was now staying with family in Phnom Penh.

During the hearing, he added, Kimlon agreed to certain conditions, such as promising to appear when summonsed, and to notify the court of any change in address.

“Anyway, he has already served over a month’s detention in prison,” Rith said, before declining to comment further.

Colonel Pou Davy, the deputy commander of the municipal military police who arrested the tycoon, said Kimlon was arrested with three others – among them his nephew and fellow military police officer Ung Chanthan – on the night of July 5 at Kimlon’s residence in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district.

The arrest took place after an altercation between a passing group of Cambodia National Rescue Party campaigners and a group of pro-Cambodian People’s Party guests attending a gathering at Kimlon’s villa.

A shouting match between the two sides escalated until a fight broke out, and each side began lobbing rocks and household objects at each other over Kimlon’s wall.

It was then that Kimlon allegedly fired his gun in the air several times in an attempt, he said, to quell the uproar. His nephew Chanthan had initially claimed that it was he who had fired the gun, but was later released.

Neither Sivutha nor Kimlon, nor his attorney, could be reached for comment.