The body of Funcinpec activist missing for a week was found dead Sunday morning in Kandal province, party officials and rights workers said. The body showed signs of severe torture.
Mom Samean, Kandal province police chief, said a body was found and police were “80 percent certain” it was Thong Sophal, a Funcinpec campaigner recently reported missing.
Funcinpec Campaign Manager May Sam Oeun said there was no doubt the body discovered near a canal in Russey Chroy commune, Muk Kampul district was 45-year-old Thong Sophal. He said the flesh had been stripped off his legs, his left ear and fingers cut off and he had suffered a severe blow to the left side of his head.
A human rights official said after a preliminary examination, the cause of death was believed to be torture. No gunshot wounds were found.
Police investigating his disappearance discovered the body, Mom Samean said. Near the body was a vial of poison or a drug and a water bottle containing pesticide, he said. His department is investigating the case, Mom Samean added.
May Som Oeun said he believes the killing is politically motivated. Thong Sophal, a resident of Kandal province, was active in Funcinpec and had visited the party headquarters in Phnom Penh several times, May Som Oeun said.
He is survived by a wife and seven children.
Also, police have not identified suspects in the allegedly political slaying of Sam Rainsy Party worker Em Eam, 62, found in a shallow grave June 19 at a rubber plantation in Kompong Cham’s Tbong Khmum district, local police said Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Touch Rotha)
