Om Radsady, a senior adviser to Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh, was gunned down Tuesday as he left a Chamkar Mon district restaurant around midday and died at Calmette Hospital after doctors tried for several hours to save his life.
Royalists fear Om Radsady’s death may signal an escalation in the growing dispute between some outspoken Funcinpec officials and ruling party officials.
Royalist officials are focusing on the 52-year-old’s close relationship with Funcinpec lawmaker Princess Norodom Vacheara, who has been involved in a public dispute with Prime Minister Hun Sen that has resulted in at least one lawsuit so far by the premier.
“Maybe they dare not do something to [Princess] Vacheara because she is too well-known by the people, so they do something to somebody close to Vacheara. It is just a message to warn Vacheara and Funcinpec,” said one top royalist official who did not want to be named.
Funcinpec Secretary-General Prince Norodom Sirivudh, who first accompanied Om Radsady —a member of the Funcinpec Steering Committee and former parliamentarian—to the hospital, said, “It is hard to say this was personal.”
Another top royalist said the shooting clearly was not a robbery, and also characterized it as a message, noting Om Radsady’s relationship with Princess Vacheara, which the princess acknowledged Tuesday as being very close.
“Since I had this problem [with Hun Sen], he encouraged me,” the princess said.
Phnom Penh diplomats have also dismissed robbery as a motive, with one saying the shooting “clearly was a hit.” But the diplomats said they could not yet put a motive to the killing, saying that several—sometimes contradictory—theories have circulated.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy called Om Radsady a “democrat” whose death is going to discourage opposition-friendly royalists who might want to see greater cooperation between Funcinpec and the Sam Rainsy Party.
“This is not an accident. I worry this is a threat against democracy,” Sam Rainsy said as word of Om Radsady’s shooting quickly spread among Phnom Penh’s political community.
But Funcinpec’s co-Minister of Interior You Hockry cautioned against calling the shooting political, saying, “This [shooting] affects other top Funcinpec officials, so we have to be careful. We cannot make any conclusions.”
Another royalist official said the party could not make any accusations about the killing “because we have no proof.”
“I am worried that without [proof] any accusations could be turned against us,” the official said, but added that Cambodia’s rulers have acted with virtual impunity since the early 1990s.
“If you look back at the 1993 [elections], 1997 and 1998—they can do anything,” the official said.
Minister of Interior spokesman General Khieu Sopheak denied any allegations Om Radsady’s killing had to do with the premier’s fight with Princess Vacheara. “Funcinpec and the CPP are a coalition government,” he said. “We would like to condemn the killers.”
Two men on a motorcycle—one armed with a handgun—confronted a group of nine Funcinpec officials on the street outside the restaurant, apparently searching out Om Radsady, witness Keo Hok Lee said.
After picking him out from the crowd, the gunman grabbed Om Radsady by the collar and shot him in the right thigh, Keo Hok Lee said.
Doctors at Calmette later said a bullet traveled through Om Radsady’s groin and ruptured his liver, causing massive bleeding.
“Now it is finished. We could not help,” a Funcinpec government official told a crowd outside Calmette around 5 pm.
The official, a doctor who did not want to be named, said Om Radsady suffered two bullet wounds, but it remains unclear when, or where, he was shot a second time.
Municipal Police Chief Heng Pov said authorities have no suspects in the shooting. “It is too early, we must investigate this case carefully and now we have not arrested any suspects,” Heng Pov said late Tuesday.
Funcinpec officials said Om Radsady’s body would be taken today from Calmette and moved to party headquarters, where a three-day ceremony will be held.
(Additional reporting by Seth Meixner and Lor Chandara)
