Article 13 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption which Cambodia (UNCAC) ratified in 2007 requires the government to promote active participation of individuals and groups who fight corruption outside the public sector, including civil society, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations. He said the suspect claimed to have shot Kem Ley because he failed to pay him back for a loan.
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“His killing will further deepen the complexity of political situation”, he said, adding that all sides of Cambodia’s political divide needed to remain calm.
A man has been pictured slicing open his arm at the funeral of a renowned Cambodian political analyst.
Hoeum Huth’s husband, Oeut Ang, has been in custody since Sunday, when he allegedly shot to death Kem Ley, a prominent political analyst and government critic.
Phnom Penh police declined to comment on the case on Monday and referred questions to municipal police chief Chuon Sovann, who could not be reached.
They quote police as saying he was killed at a petrol station in the capital Phnom Penh.
Kem Ley was shot twice in broad daylight, from behind with a high precision hand gun, which is not normally associated with street thugs and debt collectors.
Hundreds of Cambodians spontaneously gathered near the crime scene and marched in Phnom Penh, the country’s capital, to condemn the killing. They set up makeshift memorials with flowers and refused to let ambulances take away the body, instead carrying it in a procession to a Buddhist temple. Some anxious that authorities would try to cremate the body without an investigation or even without a funeral. “We are working on this case”.
Spokeswoman Josie Cohen said Cambodia had a long history of political, human rights and labor activists being killed. The motive of the attack was not immediately known.
The suspect also said that he purchased the pistol he used to kill Kem Ley in Thailand. Activists and members of the political opposition are frequent targets, and attackers are rarely brought to justice.
Washington led the global outcry over the murder of a well-known anti-government critic. In October a year ago, two opposition lawmakers were dragged from their cars and viciously beaten by a mob as they left the National Assembly. An FBI investigation cast suspicion on Hun Sen’s own private bodyguard, though no suspects were ever charged. Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha, acting head of the opposition since CNRP leader Sam Rainsy went into self-imposed exile in late 2015 to avoid a slew of government-initiated lawsuits, remains holed up in opposition headquarters to avoid arrest over a protracted sex scandal that many critics believe to be politically motivated.
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Cambodia became a multi-party democracy in 1993, but opponents accuse the prime minister of running a violent and authoritarian system.
