Chea Mony: "When authorities give us permission to lay it down, we do it, and when they don’t allow us, we still lay it down"

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
21 January 2008

Union officials and workers plan to lay a wreath Tuesday to commemorate the controversial murder of leader Chea Vichea in 2004.

Chea Vichea, the president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, was shot dead Jan. 22, 2004.

Two men, Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, were convicted following the shooting, but they are widely believed to be innocent.

Chea Mony, brother to the slain leader and now head of the Free Trade Union, said Monday that hundreds of union workers and activists will march to the site where Chea Vichea was gunned down near Wat Langka, to lay a wreath of flowers.

“Every year after the murder of Chea Vichea, we always lay a wreath,” Chea Mony said. “When authorities give us permission to lay it down, we do it, and when they don’t allow us, we still lay it down.”

Phnom Penh Municipal Deputy Director Suon Rindy said the city had given the workers permission to lay the wreath, “according to an agenda that we are now working on together.”