23 March 2017•Update: 23 March 2017
By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
A man was convicted of the murder of prominent government critic Kem Ley and sentenced to a life term in prison by a Cambodian court Thursday.
Oeuth Ang, whose bizarre escape on foot was captured on CCTV cameras after he killed Ley who was having his morning coffee last July, insisted his name was Chuop Samlap, which translates in Khmer to “meet kill”. He told police the killing took place because of an unpaid debt.
Ang was convicted on two counts of premeditated murder and handling an unauthorized weapon.
The killing sent shockwaves through Cambodia, as hundreds of thousands of mourners took to the streets for the funeral for Ley, whose wife gave birth to the couple’s fifth child just months after his death.
As the killer escaped on foot, he appeared to be trailed by an SUV and a motorcycle, with another one appearing to have driven slowly alongside him as he ran. The footage has raised doubts as to whether Any acted alone.
Kingsley Abbot, senior legal advisor at the International Commission of Jurists urged a retrial after observing the one-day trial.
“The investigation revealed at trial appeared to have been deficient in so many respects the only remedy is for it to be reopened without delay,” he told Anadolu Agency after the verdict.
