Svay Rieng Provincial Court has summonsed the three female workers wounded during a protest at Kao Ve Garment Factory in Manhattan Special Economic Zone for one more round of questioning before the case against the former Bavet city governor is sent for trial.

Bich Chhoeut, the provincial investigating judge, said the court had issued an order for the women to appear for final questioning on July 20 before the charges of “unintentional wounding” against Chhouk Bandith go before the judge.

“The previous [questioning] was the prosecutor’s primary investigation, but this is a survey of the investigating judge,” he said, explaining the rationale for the women being summonsed a second time.

The three workers were injured when Bandith allegedly shot his gun into the crowd of 6,000 protesting garment workers in February.

Buth Chenda, 21, Koe Nea,18, and Nuth Sakhorn, 23, filed complaints against Bandith, each demanding US$45,000 in compensation.

Chenda, who was shot through the chest, said that she is still concerned for her safety as the former governor has been released on bail and the court was continuing to delay taking the case to trial.

Chan Soveth, investigator for rights group Adhoc, said he was concerned witnesses will be too intimidated to provide sufficient evidence for a conviction.

To contact the reporter on this story: May Titthara at [email protected]