The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) issued a statement Thursday calling for union leader Pav Sina to provide credible evidence to back up his claim that factory owners were conspiring to have him killed.
Mr. Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), on Monday filed complaints with the Interior Ministry, the U.N. and rights group Licadho alleging that an administrator at a Chinese-owned factory in Svay Rieng province—identified only as Mr. Lim—told three members of his union that several factory owners were pooling money to have him assassinated.
In an audio clip provided by Mr. Sina of a February 16th meeting, a man, who the union leader says is translating for Mr. Lim, says in Khmer: “There are some factories that have been raising money to hire people to kill the union leader.”
GMAC’s statement says that “making such claims based on this inconclusive and poor-quality recording is irresponsible and provocative and GMAC urges Mr. Sina to present credible evidence to the relevant authorities and challenge[s] him to file [an] official lawsuit with the court or to fully distance himself from the claims.”
CUMW secretary-general Cheng Chhorn said Thursday that he had not seen the statement, but that the union was also considering filing a court complaint about the death threat. Mr. Sina could not be reached.
