Tycoon and military police colonel Khy Kimlon with charged yesterday with illegally discharging his firearm into the air during a scuffle between pro-ruling party guests at his home and pro-opposition campaigners parading down his street, a Phnom Penh Municipal Court official said.

Court prosecutor Meas Chanpisith confirmed that he had charged Kimlon but had decided to release his nephew, fellow military police officer Ung Chanthan, after finding he wasn’t directly involved in Friday’s shooting.

“According to the law,” Chanpisith said, “[Kimlon] could face between one and three years in jail if convicted. Chanpisith added that he had also issued charges for the unknown opposition supporters who damaged Kimlon’s property when their group began exchanging volleys of debris with Kimlon’s guests over the wall of his villa.

Pou Davy, the deputy military police commander who arrested Kimlon, said that the tycoon’s actions had been inappropriate.

“He has the right to carry a gun, but he used it at the wrong time,” Davy said.

Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann said that his party would let the court do its job and welcomed any prosecution against those who had damaged property.