A prominent Cambodian political analyst known for his strong criticism of the government has been shot dead in the capital Phnom Penh.
Kem Ley, head of a grassroots Khmer language advocacy group, was shot three times at a convenience store, police said.
Police spokesman Kurt Chantalis said Kem Ley was shot and killed just before 9 a.m. local time on Sunday as he was drinking coffee.
He said the suspect was arrested nearby and confessed to killing the analyst over an unpaid debt.
“But we still don’t believe him. We are working on this case,” he said.
Kem Ley’s body was lying in a pool of blood under a metal table inside a convenience store.
Police eventually cordoned off the area, and hundreds of onlookers gathered.
Local media aired photos of the suspect being taken into custody. He appeared injured, bleeding from the left side of his face.
The killing comes amid rising political tensions between Prime Minister Hun Sen and domestic opposition groups, who accuse him of launching a new crackdown against him. are doing.
A number of government critics and rights activists have been arrested in recent months, and others are involved in ongoing court cases.
Government spokesperson Fai Sifan described the assassination as an “unacceptable act of vileness and cruelty.”
“His killing will add to the complexity of the political situation,” he told AFP.
He said all sides of Cambodia’s political divide need to remain calm.
Kem Ley criticized both the government and opposition parties and advocated for a new era of clean politics in the notoriously corrupt country, where general elections are scheduled for 2018.
But most of his criticism has been directed at Hun Sen’s government, most recently commenting on a report by anti-corruption lobby group Global Witness.
The report accused the prime minister and his family of building a multimillion-dollar business empire, but a government spokesperson dismissed it as personal propaganda.
AFP/Reuters
Posted , Has been updated