‘Unafraid’ Ley will be ‘hard to replace’

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Jack Davies

Friends and colleagues yesterday, still coming to grips with the murder of outspoken political commentator Kem Ley, spoke in glowing terms of a man they said stood out among his peers.

“It’s going to have a chilling effect, and I don’t think there will be anyone who will replace him any time soon,” Ou Virak said of his long-time friend, who was gunned down in a mini mart as he took his morning coffee.

While he never practised medicine after graduating Cambodia’s Medical Science University, the 45-year-old Takeo native, who is survived by a pregnant wife and four children, employed a doctor’s toolkit in analysing the Kingdom’s ills.

read more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national

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New York Times

Cambodian Opposition Figure’s Killing Recalls Darker Times

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A prominent Cambodian political commentator who had recently helped found a new independent political party was gunned down at a gas station in central Phnom Penh on Sunday morning in what analysts called a major setback for democracy and freedom of expression in the country. The commentator, Kem Ley, 46, had stopped in for his morning coffee at the station’s convenience store when he was shot and killed.

“The offender was arrested and is being interrogated,” said Gen. Kirth Chantharith, a spokesman for the Cambodian National Police. The general added that the man had identified himself as Chuob Samlab, an unlikely name that translates as “Meet Kill” in the Khmer language.

The police said in a statement that the suspect, 38, was from a rural area along Cambodia’s western border and had migrated to Thailand to work on a plantation.

A leaked video of his confession to the police that circulated on social media showed him with blood streaked across his face as he explained that he had bought a pistol in Thailand with the intention of killing Mr. Kem Ley because he was owed $3,000.

read more http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/world/asia/kem-ley-cambodia.html