Sunday, 13 July 2008

Opposition, guild hit Cambodia journalist killing

Reuters Saturday, July 12, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's top opposition Sam Rainsy Party and the country's major journalist guild condemned on Saturday the killings of a journalist and his son, calling it a political threat ahead of a general election later this month.

The country's biggest opposition party, named after the French-educated former finance minister who is its leader, urged the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose Cambodian People's Party looks set to win the July 27 poll, to find the killers.

"When one who dares to write or argue against those with absolute power is assassinated, the perpetrators behind the killing are never found or tried according to the law," the opposition party said in a statement.

"This clearly demonstrates the nature of those in power," it said, adding killers of opposition politicians in the past were never arrested.

Khim Sam Bo, 47, was shot twice and his 19-year-old son was seriously wounded in the chest and died at the hospital, police chief G. Touch Naruth said.

Police said the motive remained unknown for the killing, in which a gunman on a motorcycle shot five times at the victims as they were leaving a sports stadium on a motorcycle on Friday.

Khim Sam Bo worked for more than 10 years for the Khmer Conscience (Moneaseka Khmer) newspaper, whose editor Dam Seth was recently accused of defaming Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

The charges were later dropped.

Colleagues said he had written stories exposing corruption by senior government officials in the Hun Sen government.

The Cambodia Association for Protection of Journalists also condemned the attacks.

The killing of a Cambodian journalist during the campaign period was a threat to dissemination of information and creates a fearful atmosphere for journalists, the Association said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Nopporn Wong-Anan)

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