Two suspected hitmen were tried by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday over allegations that they shot dead a local businessman in his Lexus last year.

Chorn Lin, 24, and Thol Rithiya, also 24, have been charged with premeditated murder and face life sentences if found guilty.

According to presiding judge Long Kesphirum, the pair was arrested on March 31, 2014, about two months after they allegedly shot dead the victim, Chhoeu Chanhong, a 46-year-old land dealer, by a traffic stop in Tuol Kork.

“Wearing black helmets and riding a Honda motorbike, the two perpetrators followed the victim’s Lexus 570 along Road 289,” said Colonel Nob Ponnara, chief of the Municipal Technical and Expert Appraisement Unit.

“They then fired two bullets at the victim through the car’s right window.

One bullet hit his right shoulder and another below his right armpit.

“He died about an hour later after he was sent to Calmette Hospital.”

After the shooting, the killers successfully drove off and escaped from the scene.

Ponnara said that according to police investigations, Chanhong was murdered due to a business dispute between himself and a third party, who hired the two alleged hitmen.

Both of the suspects denied involvement in the case, saying they were elsewhere during the killing.

Their verdicts will be handed down on August 12.