Cambodia Opposition Supporter Gunned Down Amid Ongoing Political Repression

A file image of the Cambodian national flag. Vanna Phon/Unsplash

A supporter of Cambodia’s Candlelight Party was reportedly shot dead in broad daylight on Sunday amid rising political tensions between the autocratic regime and the country’s largest opposition party.

Po Hin Lean, 49, was shot and killed by an unknown assailant while on his way to fish in the Tbong Khmum province, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.

The details of his murder were unavailable. His wife, Wen Kimyi, said the police appear to have pinned the shooter to a village security officer.

“The police officer said the village security guard was the shooter. I said it was not the village security guard who fired because the village security guard did not have a gun. The policeman said he had a gun, so he did not talk to me further,” Wen told RFA.

Thach Setha, the Candlelight Party vice chairman, has demanded an immediate probe into Po’s murder and the arrest of the assailants, though he could not confirm whether Po’s death was a political assassination.

“A clear investigation must be conducted to catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice, to stop such killing whether it happens to political activists or [ordinary] people,” Thach Setha said.

The liberal Candlelight Party is a reformed version of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved by a court in 2017 for plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 37 years.

The Candlelight Party has been the target of numerous attacks in Cambodia. Earlier in April, a group of people threw rocks at the residence of party candidate Khorn Tun, while party member Prak Seyha was beaten by a mob.

Former Cambodian Opposition Leader Acquitted in France

Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who co-founded the Candlelight Party, was threatened with arrest the day before Po’s murder, RFA reported.

Rainsy has been living in exile in France since 2015 to avoid serving a prison sentence for a defamation conviction.

Hun Sen had vowed to “eliminate the three generations of [Sam Rainsy’s] idealogy” in his speech at a university in Phnom Penh on Oct. 17 and referred to Rainsy as a “contemptible traitor,” according to the report.

His remarks came after a court in France acquitted Rainsy of all charges in defamation cases brought by him and a Cambodian top police official, Dy Vichea, who is also Hun Sen’s son-in-law.

Cambodian opponent in exile and leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Sam Rainsy, arrives at the courthouse accused in a defamation lawsuit filed by Cambodia's prime minister, in Paris on Sept. 1, 2022. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

Hun Sen accused Rainsy of defaming him in Facebook posts dating back to 2019. Rainsy had blamed the prime minister for the deaths of trade union leader Chea Vichea in 2004 and former police chief Hok Lundy in 2008.

In one of his Facebook posts, Rainsy alleged that Dy Vichea, the son of Hok Lundy, “knows well the cause of his father’s assassination” and is concocting a plot “to avenge his father’s death,” according to local reports.

While the court found Rainsy guilty of defaming Hun Sen, it acquitted him on the grounds that his statements were part of a “major general-interest debate over respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms” in Cambodia.

“Examples of political assassination in Cambodia are legion, with many instances that can be described as state terrorism,” Rainsy wrote in an article published on Asia Times on Monday.

“The method of operation is usually the same: Professional killers with their faces covered gun down their victims in cities in broad daylight, and calmly leave the scene as if nothing had happened,” he added.