Police say Chhouk Rin and a group of loyal supporters are hiding along the Cambodian-Thai border. A Kampong Trach district commander under the Khmer Rouge, Rin was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a 1994 train ambush.
Police say fugitive Chhouk Rin is hiding on the Cambodian-Thai border and believe
they will apprehend him there soon, despite claims by Rin's wife and doctor that
he stays close to his Phnom Voar home and sometimes sleeps in his own bed.
Kampot Deputy Police Chief In Chiva said he was 60 percent certain of the whereabouts
of Rin's hideout and said the operation to arrest him will be conducted soon.
In February, the Supreme Court upheld a previous conviction on terrorism charges
and a life sentence for Rin's role in a 1994 train attack that resulted in the death
of 13 Cambodians. Three Western backpackers were also kidnapped, held for ransom
and later killed.
Chiva said that after the Supreme Court ruling, Rin had been traveling from place
to place and was now at a province on the Cambodian-Thai border.
"He did not flee alone. He escaped with some of his supporters; we have to be
careful with them," said Chiva.
However, Rin's wife, Yem Sav, said her ailing husband is hiding in the jungle around
his home at Phnom Voar and sometimes stays for one or two nights with the family.
Sav said the 53-year-old former Khmer Rouge commander remained seriously ill and
she traveled to the market everyday to sell fish and vegetables to earn money for
the expensive medicines he requires.
She said Rin had told her to find another husband who can help her and look after
the family but she refused.
"I will live with him until he dies," Sav said.
Ouch Nuon, Rin's doctor and confidante, said Rin is hiding out around Phnom Voar
and his wife regularly asked him to buy medicines for the former Kampong Trach district
commander.
Nuon said Rin is HIV-positive and other diseases, and requires daily medicine.
But news of Rin's frail health was seen by police as proof that they will catch him
easily, despite having failed to apprehend him for six months.
"Police will arrest him soon because they fear that Rin and his followers will
become a group of robbers or kidnappers when they have no food to eat," Chiva
said.
Rin's superiors in the Khmer Rouge military, Nuon Paet and Sam Bith, were also sentenced
to life imprisonment by the court for their involvement in the 1994 train attack,
which occurred on a stretch of rail in southwest Cambodia renowned at the time for
attacks by bad guys.
Paet was arrested in 1998 and is being detaining in Prey Sar prison. Bith is seriously
sick and has been undergoing treatment in the Monivong hospital since being arrested
in 2002.
Contact PhnomPenh Post for full article
Post Media Co LtdThe Elements Condominium, Level 7
Hun Sen Boulevard
Phum Tuol Roka III
Sangkat Chak Angre Krom, Khan Meanchey
12353 Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Telegram: 092 555 741
Email: [email protected]