Chea Vichea coming back to haunt his murderers who are now scared to see his documentary shown

Chea Vichea coming to haunt his murderers?

Khieu Kanharith: the opposition still use Chea Vichea’s ghost for political gain

04 May 2010
Kampuchea Thmei
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Along with the repeated charge by the opposition party against Hun Xen’s regime of being behind the murder of Chea Vichea, the former president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Khieu Kanharith, mouthpiece of the accused government, reacted by saying that the opposition still try to use Chea Vichea’s ghost for its political gain.

In the attempt to project the documentary “Who killed Chea Vichea?” in the evening of 01 May 2010, during the May Day celebration, Thach Setha, a Phnom Penh city councilor from the SRP and President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community Association, told reporters near the gate of Wat Langka Pagoda – the spot where Chea Vichea was murdered – that the government shouldn’t be scared about the truth, and if the government ban the projection of the movie “Who killed Chea Vichea?”, then it means that “the government does not recognize the truth and it could be behind this murder also” as the family of the victim is still badly hurt because if the murder perpetrators cannot be found then the government should tell them about the investigation into this case.

Thach Setha indicated also that the government should not ban the projection of this movie. He added that the government should show the investigation report, and furthermore, Heng Pov also confessed in this case, therefore, the government should not evade and it should let the public know about the details of this case.

Khieu Kanharith told Kampuchea Thmei over the phone on Monday 03 May 2010 that the “opposition shouldn’t repeat the same thing over and over, it should be careful not to get itself trapped.” He added that up to now, the lawsuit into this case is moving forward and the court is working on this case to move it forward, therefore the opposition party should not make too much political gain from Chea Vichea’s case.

Rong Chhun, President of the Cambodia Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) who attempted to project the movie “Who killed Chea Vichea?” claimed that he watched the documentary and there is nothing in there that affects social security at all.

Mrs. Mu Sochua, the SRP MP from Kampot who was present at the projection along with other SRP MPs, indicated that Chea Vichea is one of the founder of the SRP, therefore, if the authority does not allow the projection of the documentary near the gate of Wat Langka Pagoda, the SRP will project it at its headquarters on a holiday for factory workers.

Regarding the attempt to project this documentary, Khieu Sopheak, mouthpiece for the ministry of Interior, told Kampuchea Thmei in the afternoon of 03 May that he did not know about the projection of the documentary at the SRP headquarters, but he said that, whatever each political party wants to do, nobody will stop them, and the opposition will remain opposed and will never agree with the government. He also claimed that the opposition always finds a point to oppose the government, and when it finds it, it will oppose in spite of what the government tell them.

Regarding the issue raised by Thach Setha, Khieu Sopheak claimed that such issue is always raised, therefore it is not surprising because they attempt to raise the issue that the government is behind this murder.

It should be noted that the attempt to project the documentary and the ban issued by the city was due to the fact this film did not yet receive the visa (sic?), it does not receive legal authorizations from relevant ministries, and it did not receive the import permit yet. Normally, each film would be reviewed by relevant institutions and it should have the proper visa before it can be shown. However, in the case of the documentary “Who killed Chea Vichea?”, its import was not authorized, it does not have the proper visa, and it did not undergo the review from various relevant ministries for it to be authorized for projection. Furthermore, this documentary hides a number of political issues as well.

What is remarkable is that Bradley Cox, the producer of the documentary did not travel to Cambodia, therefore the import of this movie could have been done through political channel.