Thousands in funeral march for slain Cambodia activist

[yuiyoshida]

Tens of thousands of people attend a funeral procession to carry the body of Kem Ley, an anti-government figure and the head of a grassroots advocacy group, "Khmer for Khmer" who was shot dead on July 10, to his hometown, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia July 24, 2016.

PHNOM PENH - Tens of thousands of Cambodians on Sunday joined the funeral procession of a prominent government critic whose murder in broad daylight has raised suspicions of a hit job in country with a long history of political violence.

Kem Ley, a popular pro-democracy voice and grassroots rights activist, was shot dead on July 10 while drinking coffee outside a petrol station in the capital.

The brazen murder sent ripples of fear across a country already brimming with political tension between strongman Hun Sen and a resurgent opposition.

A former soldier charged with the murder claimed he shot Kem Ley over an outstanding debt.

But suspicions of a political assassination continue to run strong in a nation where the rule of law is threadbare and critics of the elite are routinely silenced.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/thousands-funeral-march-slain-cambodia-activist