The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has charged eight individuals, including three Vietnamese nationals, for their alleged parts in the September 6 grenade attack on Phnom Penh’s Street 163 and a separate, but related, shooting from 2015.
Sok Kimly, a Cambodian national initially identified as Vietnamese, was charged on Saturday for allegedly masterminding the attempted murder of Ea Lyhour on two occasions – an attempted shooting in September 2015, and the Boeung Keng Kang III commune grenade attack this month.
Despite there being no deaths in the grenade attack, Kimly, Nou Samban, Sak Mab, Bun Pheakdey and his wife, Bou Sopheap, were charged on Saturday with premeditated murder, with officials declining to discuss reasons for the charge.
Three Vietnamese nationals – Chang Thi Ve, Le Dang Dong and Ni Soi Binh – were charged on Friday with attempted murder for the failed shooting of Lyhour – a resident of Street 163. All suspects have been sent to pre-trial detention.
At a press conference on Friday, National Police chief Chhoun Sovann did not elaborate on Kimly’s motivation to kill Lyhour, adding that it was a “case of revenge” and that authorities were on the lookout for other suspects.
Ngeng Chuo, deputy chief of the Ministry of Interior’s penal police, said after the failed attempt to kill Lyhour last year, Kimly again plotted to kill him using a grenade, adding it was Mab who had dropped the explosive.
