Hun Sen Relative Tapped as Police Chief
Neth Savoeun, a former municipal police chief who is married to the premier's niece, will take over the national police force. (11 Nove
A police general who served under the late Hok Lundy and isan in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen has been selected to lead the nation’spolice force, following a deadly helicopter crash Sunday. Gen. Neth Savoeun, who has served in the police as well as the Ministry of Interior and ismarried to Hun Sen’s niece, was officially decreed as national police chieflate Monday. The former chief, Hok Lundy, a powerful Cambodian People’sParty general who continually faced allegations of serious human rights abuses,died Sunday night, when a helicopter transporting him to his home province of Svay Rieng crashed. “King Norodom Sihamoni officially signed the decree toappoint Gen. Neth Savoeun late Monday as the national police chief to replaceHok Lundy,” Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said Tuesday. “Iand all Cambodian police welcome the new appointment. Neth Savoeun has a lot ofexperience in the police.” Neth Savoeun, 52, was police chief of Phnom Penh during theState of Cambodia, served as the head of the justice department in the InteriorMinistry’s Penal Crimes Division after the 1993 elections, and recently becamea deputy national police chief under Hok Lundy. He married Hun Sen’s niece, HunKimleng, in the early 1990s. Contacted Tuesday, Neth Savoeun declined to comment on hisappointment, saying he was busy with funeral ceremonies for Hok Lundy, who isscheduled to be buried in Svay Rieng’s Rumduol district Saturday. “I’m not thinking about who [specifically] is appointed,”Chan Soveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc said. “But I want theperson appointed as the new general of national police to have a goodbackground, not to be involved in corruption, not be involved in humantrafficking, or drug trafficking, or involved in killings. So I hope that thegovernment has decided to appoint Neth Savoeun because his background is notinvolved in these.” During his 14-year tenure as chief, Hok Lundy was accused ofall these crimes, including collaboration in the 1997 grenade attack onopposition supporters, which killed 16 people, and extrajudicial killingsduring the 1997 CPP coup. He was denied US entry on suspicion of humantrafficking in 2006, but had in recent years become an ally of the FBI forregional counterterrorism. Under Hok Lundy, the national police force was routinely criticized for torture, corruption and abuse of power. Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party, said NethSavoeun lacked qualifications. “As I’ve known him before, he has not graduated from the Police Academy,and his rank comes from his relations to a high-ranking official, or nepotism,”said Kem Sokha, who was arrested by the national police in 2006 and spent 17days in jail on charges of defamation. Asked whether Neth Savoeun could reform the national police,Kem Sokha said, “I don’t think it depends on Neth Savoeun. Whatever thenational police chief did before, it was dependent on the government. [Police]weren’t independently allowed to do anything.”