A year after the assassination of the prominent political analyst, Southeast Asia Globe reviews the key events in one of Cambodia’s great modern tragedies

People attend the funeral procession of Cambodian independent political analyst Kem Ley on a street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 24 July 2016. Photo: EPA/


Kem Ley was killed a year ago today. It was massive news, but few could have predicted just how much it would matter to so many people.
The cold-blooded murder has become the most stirring symbol of the suppression of dissent that has swept through Cambodia’s political and human rights arenas as tension builds ahead of the national election set for July 2018.
Kem Ley is commonly referred to as a political analyst, which is accurate but fails to capture the scope of his work or why thousands of Cambodians have made the trip to his home province of Takeo this week to pay their respects.
He was Cambodia’s preeminent voice of reason. A medical doctor by training, he spoke to Cambodian people through the radio, on his popular Facebook page and in person, holding workshops throughout the country to encourage people to make their voices heard.
In the year before he was shot dead, he helped start the Khmer for Khmer political advocacy group and the Grassroots Democracy Party, which aimed to challenge the status quo by empowering people to engage in politics on their own terms and with their own priorities.
In the year since, he has become a martyr for democracy and justice – his face both a reminder of the country’s dark history of political violence and a symbol of optimism for a brighter future in which Cambodians are in charge of their own destiny.
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July 10, 2016: Kem Ley is shot dead just after 8:30 am while sitting down with coffee and newspapers at a gas station convenience store in central Phnom Penh. The suspected shooter is arrested within minutes. In a video released by police the day of the killing, he names himself as Chuob Samlab, or ‘Meet Kill’, and says he shot Kem Ley over an unpaid loan.