31 mins ago - BREAKING NEWS
Kem Ley’s supporters blocked from holding a memorial

Phnom Penh authorities today prevented a group of people and monks from gathering to mark the fourth anniversary of assassination of prominent political analyst Kem Ley.

A group of people, including 12 monks were trying to gather this morning at the gas station in Phnom Penh where Ley was gunned down but was blocked by dozens of police officers and district security guards.

Authorities said they banned the gathering to maintain public order amid the COVID-19 outbreaks. At least one young man wearing Kem Ley T-shirt was arrested at the scene and sent to Chamkar Mon district office for questioning.

Ley was shot dead on the morning of July 10, 2016 at the gas station in Phnom Penh as he was having coffee.

Oeuth Ang, or Chuop Samlap, was sentenced to life in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in March 2017 after he was found guilty of slaying Ley.

After several hours of being prevented from gathering, the monks and supporters decided to pray near the gas station, then marched to outskirts of Phnom Penh. They travelled to Ley’s home village in Takeo province in a bid to hold a traditional ceremony.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50742774/k ... -memorial/

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2020 12:49 pm 31 mins ago - BREAKING NEWS
Kem Ley’s supporters blocked from holding a memorial

Phnom Penh authorities today prevented a group of people and monks from gathering to mark the fourth anniversary of assassination of prominent political analyst Kem Ley.

A group of people, including 12 monks were trying to gather this morning at the gas station in Phnom Penh where Ley was gunned down but was blocked by dozens of police officers and district security guards.

Authorities said they banned the gathering to maintain public order amid the COVID-19 outbreaks. At least one young man wearing Kem Ley T-shirt was arrested at the scene and sent to Chamkar Mon district office for questioning.

Ley was shot dead on the morning of July 10, 2016 at the gas station in Phnom Penh as he was having coffee.

Oeuth Ang, or Chuop Samlap, was sentenced to life in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in March 2017 after he was found guilty of slaying Ley.

After several hours of being prevented from gathering, the monks and supporters decided to pray near the gas station, then marched to outskirts of Phnom Penh. They travelled to Ley’s home village in Takeo province in a bid to hold a traditional ceremony.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50742774/k ... -memorial/

I had never heard of the victim nor of the shooting before this. However, the news report has piqued my interest to research more. I am surprised (IDKY) that whoever ordered the police to block them would have thought it wise to let them perform the ceremony and let sleeping dogs lie.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:33 pm

I find it hard to believe that anyone living here wouldn't know about this, it was one of the biggest stories in the past few years.

Oh now JB... Things happen so rapidly here I do not hear anyone commonly talking about something that happened 1 year ago. This happened exactly 4 years ago tomorrow. I've been here 2 btw.

edit: just googled and read about it on Wiki. I had heard about it 1 other time in the past.

‘A true man of the people’: Revisiting the murder of Dr. Kem Ley
Four years since the passing of Cambodian political commentator and advocate Dr Kem Ley, his murder remains a highly sensitive political issue in the Kingdom. Why does his legacy continue to hold such significance in Cambodian discourse today?
By Southeast Asia Globe - July 11, 2020

Four years to the day after the murder of Cambodian social activist Dr Kem Ley, his death is still shrouded in mystery.
The 46-year-old was a political commentator and civil society advocate before his passing and left behind his wife, Bou Rachana, and five children.
A trained physician, Kem Ley spent much of his life traveling through Cambodia researching social and political issues and was a prolific media and radio guest, appearing frequently on Radio Free Asia. Though he was a co-founder of the Grassroots Democratic Party and worked in the political system at various points in his career, he never held office nor campaigned to do so.

Year after year, the Phnom Penh gas station where Kem Ley was gunned down by a man who later identified himself to police as Chuob Somlab, a name that means “Meet Kill” in Khmer, has become a site of pilgrimage for those who hold his memory close. The recurring scene is an echo of the spontaneous procession that gathered after the killing to escort the body of the fallen doctor back to his family home in Takeo province, south of the capital city, and later again congregated there in a funerary scene estimated to have gathered some two million people.

In full: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/kem-ley- ... niversary/

When I look into my crystal ball I see a StarMart gas station being demolished and a big hotel going up .

Five years on...

July 9, 2021 1:57PM
Cambodia: No Justice At 5-Year Anniversary of Kem Ley’s Death

Today, in advance of the fifth anniversary of the unlawful killing of prominent political commentator and human rights defender Kem Ley, the 45 undersigned organizations reiterate their call for the Cambodian authorities to create an independent Commission of Inquiry tasked with conducting an independent, impartial and effective investigation into Kem Ley’s death.

To date, the Cambodian government has consistently failed to achieve justice for Kem Ley and his family.

On 10 July 2016, against a backdrop of escalating attacks on civil society and the political opposition in the country, Kem Ley was shot in a café at a petrol station in central Phnom Penh.

Police quickly arrested Oeuth Ang - who inexplicably identified himself as “Choub Samlab” or “Meet to Kill” - as he fled the scene. According to police, the suspect “confessed” to the killing and claimed his motive was an unpaid debt of US$3000 Kem Ley owed him, a claim disputed by Kem Ley’s widow and Oeuth Ang’s wife.

On 23 March 2017, after a half-day trial hearing, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Oeuth Ang guilty of the murder of Kem Ley and sentenced him to life imprisonment. To date, there has been no independent, impartial and effective investigation to establish whether anyone else was involved in the killing. On 24 May 2019, Cambodia’s Supreme Court rejected Oeuth Ang’s appeal for reduction of sentence and upheld his life imprisonment term.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have previously highlighted key aspects of the case that have not been adequately investigated, and were not adequately addressed at trial. The failure to address such deficiencies raises concerns about prosecutors’ priorities to secure a quick conviction rather than comprehensively investigating the case, including uncovering information about other possible conspirators who may have been involved.

Full article: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/09/cam ... leys-death