Though a killer was tried and sentenced to life in prison in 2017, Bou Rachana, wife of slain political analyst Kem Ley, says she is still in pain, raising their children alone in Australia, and has no faith in receiving true justice.
Political analyst Kem Ley’s murder of July 10, 2016, ignited one of the last outpourings of mass civic and political expression seen in an increasingly repressed nation. Recollections from Phnom Penh residents, Ley’s colleagues and others are pieced together in this account of the historic day and the weeks that followed.
A former opposition senator has been appointed to a government position after returning from exile in Sweden, where she was evading an 18-month prison sentence for accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of ordering the assassination of political analyst Kem Ley.
An online petition launched on Tuesday by the outlawed main opposition party calling for investigations into extrajudicial killings in Cambodia, and foreign visa sanctions and the freezing of assets of Prime Minister Hun Sen and others has gained more than 400 signers, with goals of half a million signatories.
Authorities on Friday continued to restrict events memorializing the fourth anniversary of the murder of political analyst Kem Ley, while the Phnom Penh gas station where he was shot dead was occupied by police rather than visible supporters.
After they were banned from holding a memorial and stopped by authorities during a march in Takeo province, activists on Thursday continued their journey to commemorate slain political analyst Kem Ley ahead of the fourth anniversary of his death.
For the fourth anniversary of Kem Ley’s death on Friday, supporters say they will mark the day individually or online in order to avoid restrictions by authorities as experienced in previous years.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday handed down a suspended sentence to dissident Kung Raiya, finding him guilty on charges related to his printing of T-shirts with murdered political analyst Kem Ley’s image and words.
Dissident Kung Raiya, who faces up to four years in prison on charges related to his printing of T-shirts with murdered political analyst Kem Ley’s image and words, said he does not expect justice when the court’s verdict is announced next month.
Dissident Kung Raiya, who faces up to two years in prison on charges related to his printing of T-shirts with murdered political analyst Kem Ley’s image and words, will be released on bail, a court spokesman and his lawyer said on Friday.
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