Phnom Penh - Cambodian authorities would not rest until they
found the killer of opposition journalist Khim Sambo and his son, a
minister said Thursday.
Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith
called the shooting murder of Sambo and his son in the capital at the
peak of national election campaigning in July 'embarassing' and said
the government was determined to bring the killers to justice.
'We will not rest until we die or catch the perpetrators,'
Kanharith said.
Kanharith, himself a former journalist, personally attended a
memorial for the 47-year-old journalist for the opposition newspaper
Moneaksekar Khmer and his son Khat Sarinpheata on July 13 after they
were shot at point blank range on a busy street in the capital.
The killings caused an international outcry, coming so close to
Sunday's national elections resoundingly won by Kanharith's Cambodian
People's Party, and the opposition and groups such as Human Rights
Watch dubbed it a clear case of intimidation.
The government is adamant it had nothing to do with the murders,
but its vow to catch the killers has been greeted with skepticism by
the opposition and human rights campaigners.
A similar promise to catch the killers of union leader Chea Vichea
after he was slain in similar fashion resulted in the arrests and
convictions of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun in 2004 - two formerly
minor criminals who both appeared to have air-tight alibis but were
convicted regardless and sentenced to 20 years jail each.
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