Escape of critic’s killer raises questions in Cambodia

Police deny collusion with self-confessed killer of prominent government critic as video of escape, arrest raises doubts

Anadolu Agency | 1 August 2016

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Cambodia’s ruling party is set to sue an opposition politician for alleging that the prime minister was behind last month’s daylight execution of a prominent government critic, as a new video of the self-confessed killer’s escape depicts an unusual getaway attempt.

Kem Ley was gunned down at a service station on the morning of July 10 by a gunman who escaped on foot, and then claimed he killed the critic because of an unpaid debt. The killing sparked widespread outrage and Ley’s funeral last week was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

A new video -- disseminated over the weekend -- of the moments before the gunman’s arrest has also begun to raise eyebrows.

It shows the killer running on foot when a man in plain clothes on a motorbike casually pulls up alongside him, and the killer raises his leg as if to hop on the back. There is traffic that blocks the view momentarily, but the killer then resumes running on foot.

The frame then cuts to another angle, which shows him dropping his gun on the street before being knocked aside.

The man on the police bike reappears. This time, the killer gets astride the vehicle; another police officer arrives and pats him down, then gets on the back of the bike and, with the killer in the middle, it is driven away.

Political analyst Ou Virak, founder of the Future Forum think-tank, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that he questioned the behavior in the video, which he said hinted that something wasn’t quite right about the arrest.

“If he’s a killer, you don’t allow him on the back with a gun -- you’d be dead,” he said.

“It’s troubling, because even the guy when he’s on the back and the cop is behind him after they check him, it indicates the plainclothes guy is a police officer within the force… You wouldn’t do that, you would make a proper arrest, you would handcuff the guy,” he added.

“So either he is stupid and not trained or he knows what we don’t know.”

National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith was quoted in The Cambodia Daily on Monday as denying that there was any collusion between police and the suspect, claiming that police had guns trained in on the scene that were out of shot.

The Daily also reported that the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is planning on suing Thak Lany, a senator with the Sam Rainsy Party, who allegedly blamed Prime Minister Hun Sen for the murder.

The lawmaker has allegedly been recorded as saying that Hun Sen “was agitated and then shot at Kem Ley, who was a political analyst who spoke up about Global Witness, Hun Sen’s corruption, his family’s corruption and the millions of dollars they saved”.

The Global Witness claim refers to a report released last month, which accused Hun Sen’s family of widespread corruption.

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan did not return a request for comment Monday when asked by Anadolu Agency if the lawsuit had been filed with the court, but he was quoted in the Daily on Monday as having said that “on Monday or Tuesday, we will sue and accuse her of defamation.”