Little hope for justice as anniversary of Chea vichea assassination marked

The statue of slain union leader Chea Vichea Pha Lina

22 Jan, 2016 Mech Dara PPP 

About 80 unionists and civil society members gathered yesterday morning in front of the statue of slain union leader Chea Vichea to mark the 12th anniversary of his killing. On January 22, 2004, Vichea, the leader of the Free Trade Union, was shot dead near the capital’s Wat Langka pagoda.

Although two men who were later vindicated served a combined 10 years for the crime, Vichea’s murderer has never been found. Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said at the ceremony he was “not confident” the government would find Vichea’s killer. 

“Brothers and sisters, you saw the beating of the two [opposition] lawmakers [last October] – there were many video clips of the beating and evidence on social media, but they still did not find those culpable or investigate the incident,” he said. 

A commission created to investigate Vichea’s killing last September has yielded no results. Chea Mony, Vichea’s brother and the current FTU president, said Vichea’s family and thousands of workers were still “waiting for justice”.