Calls for Justice for Chea Vichea’s Murder: 20 Years Without Progress
Published on 22 January 2024
More than 100 people gathered nearby Phnom Penh’s Wat Langka pagoda this morning to demand justice for murdered union leader Chea Vichea. The former President of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) was shot and killed in broad daylight at a newspaper stall outside the pagoda on 22 January 2004.
Today, 20 years later, participants including activists, youth and other civil society representatives gathered to call for the murderers to be brought to justice. Vichea’s younger brother and now National Power Party (NPP) Vice President Chea Mony and other FTUWKC representatives read statements about the unionist’s murder. Participants also submitted a petition to Prime Minister Hun Manet’s Cabinet, calling for justice for Vichea and other murdered activists.
.jpeg)
Around 15 mixed plainclothes and uniformed authorities including police and security guards monitored, photographed and videoed the event. The Phnom Penh Municipality approved the event on the condition that no foreigners attended.
Two innocent men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeurn, were falsely convicted for Vichea’s murder and imprisoned for five years before their sentences were overturned in 2013. Participants this morning also called for justice for two other murdered FTUWKC leaders Ros Sovannareth and Hy Vuthy, who were murdered in 2004 and 2007 respectively and whose killers have also yet to be brought to justice.
