- Sam Bith
Sam Bith (1933?-
February 15 ,2008 ) was aCambodia n guerilla commander, convicted murderer forKhmer Rouge , and former deputy to its military headTa Mok .On
July 26 ,1994 , Bith and his fleet of rebels ambushed a train carrying the three backpackers — Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, cite news |first=|last=|title=Sam Bith |url=http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=385&sid=1346230 |work=Associated Press |date=2008-02-16 |accessdate=2008-02-16] with at least ten Cambodians being killed in the attack itself.cite news |first=|last=|title=Khmer Rouge commander charged |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2003754.stm |work=BBC News |date=2002-05-23 |accessdate=2008-02-16] The group held the three foreigners and several Cambodians under "miserable conditions" at Vine Mountain rebel base in the southern Cambodian province ofKampot . They were killed three months after the attack when government-backed negotiations for their release and the $150,000 ransom failed.Fellow rebel Nuon Paet was sentenced to life in prison for his role in it in June 1999. In his trial, he testified against Bith, claiming that Bith, his superior officer, ordered them killed. By the time the manhunt began that same year Bith was a general in the
Cambodian Army after discharging from Khmer Rouge in 1996.Bith was found following the publication in a Thai newspaper of reports of his lavish home in
Pailin in western Cambodia. He was charged with kidnapping, conspiring in premeditated murder, terrorism and robbery in December 2002 and was sentenced to life in prison. Bith pleaded innocent to those charges, claiming in court he had already been relieved of his position as a regional commander by Khmer Rouge leaderPol Pot several weeks before the train ambush. He had been suffering from health problems the day before his arrest and two doctors had been assigned to look over him.Bith died on February 15, 2008, aged 74. While no official cause of death has been given, his wife Khem Ri said he had been "very sick" with diabetes and high blood pressure and had been taken to Calmette Hospital ten days beforehand.
References
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