Gunman at rally identified as Hun Sen bodyguard | Cambodia News | Khmer News

By Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
October 16, 2013
Cambodia Daily

In this photo posted online, Poeurng Choeurn (left) is seen with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son Hun Manet (second from left) at a party on June 6. Meanchey governor Kuch Chamroeun (back row, left), who is also an adviser to Hun Sen, said on Tuesday that the photo was taken at a Chbar Ampov High School alumni reunion, but said he did not know Mr Choeurn.

A man found carrying a pistol at a teachers’ rally on Sunday and subsequently captured by attendees was confirmed on Tuesday as a member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Personal Guard Unit (PMBU), as photos found online raised questions about his role in the secretive military unit and his motives for participating in opposition demonstrations.

Poeurng Choeurn, 38, was taking photos of monks at a small rally organized by the Independent Cambodian Teachers’ Association at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh when Mu Sochua, a CNRP lawmaker-elect, stopped him and asked him to take out a K-54 pistol hidden under his shirt.

The protesters attacked Mr Choeurn, disarmed him and dragged him through the park before gendarmes captured him and took him behind a police cordon. Before leaving Calmette Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries, Mr Choeurn wrote his occupation in the patient register as “Samdech Bodyguard”.

Touch Naroth, the head of the Interior Ministry’s guard, confirmed on Tuesday that Mr Choeurn served in the prime minister’s private armed forces.

“He works for Samdech Techo’s bodyguard unit,” General Naros said, using the honorific “Techo” used to refer to Hun Sen. [about him]he doesn’t work in my unit.”

Hing Bun Heang, director of the Myanmar Prime Minister’s Office Bodyguard Bureau, declined to comment on Mr Choeurn, instead directing reporters to speak to someone who had confirmed his position: “Ask whoever said he was a bodyguard.”

Conflicting accounts emerged about Mr Choeurn’s identity after the brief chaotic scene at Freedom Park on Sunday. In addition to his gun, he was carrying a press card identifying him as a reporter for the Municipal Information Department (MID) news agency, part of the Phnom Penh Information Ministry.

MID director Khuth Samkhann confirmed that he worked for the agency and said he did not know why he was carrying a pistol at the event.

Information Minister Joganhari also said the ministry had sent photographers to record the rally but denied they had been armed. He later suggested Mr Choeurn might have been a “temporary staff member”.

Mr Sangkham said on Tuesday that while the MID did not work for Mr Hun Sen’s bodyguard force, Mr Choeurn was free to work anywhere else he wanted.

“He can work in any agency as long as he makes news for our department,” Mr Samcan said, adding that it did not matter whether his staff were armed.

“I don’t care about his gun, I just know he reports the news for me.”

However, photos belonging to Mr Choeurn and his friends found on social media profiles on Tuesday added to the mystery of his real job.

He was photographed standing with Hun Sen’s eldest son, Hun Manai, members of the military and the prime minister’s personal bodyguards, and in one photo he had his arm around former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is wanted in Thailand and to whom Hun Sen for years offered safe passage and asylum in Cambodia.

One of the photos showed Mr. Choi wearing a press card in September, while another, taken in July, showed him wearing an ID card that read “Bodyguard Department.”

Another album posted online by Mr. Choeurn appears to contain numerous photos of people at events for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. It includes photos of monks and journalists at demonstrations, as well as three photos that appear to have been taken secretly of Thy Sovantha, a young opposition activist who manages the CNRP-aligned Facebook page “I Love Cambodia Hot News,” which has 200,000 followers.

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