Following the disappearance of a key witness to the fatal shooting of a Free Trade Union factory representative, Phnom Penh Penal Police Chief Reach Sokhon on Tuesday offered a $300 reward for information that will lead to the killers’ arrests.
Reach Sokhon said a woman who ran a telephone booth meters from where union leader Ros Sovannareth was killed May 7 has gone into hiding, fearing reprisals for what she saw.
Her disappearance hampered the investigation, Reach Sokhon said. But he also said investigators have determined a motive.
“The killing was caused by the competition between the unions in the factory,” Reach Sokhon said.
There has been a dispute between the pro-opposition Free Trade Union and the pro-CPP Cambodian Union Federation at the Trinunggal Komara garment factory, where the two groups competed for members.
Last November, Ros Sovannareth and six other FTU representatives from the factory signed a statement, alleging that CUF organizer Khvan Chanlymony threatened them. The statement said it was alerting authorities that if its signatories were harmed, Khvan Chanlymony would be responsible. Reach Sokhon said he summoned the CUF organizer for questioning last week. Khvan Chanlymony acknowledged the dispute, but downplayed its importance and maintained his innocence, the police chief said.
Chuon Momthol, head of the CUF, rejected the police’s analysis Tuesday, saying that despite political differences, the unions tried to work together to strengthen Cambodia’s labor movement. Instead, he suggested: “Maybe Sam Rainsy killed Ros Sovannareth to accuse me and accuse the CPP…. I do not accuse, but this is my idea.”
An FTU representative for PCCS Garment Ltd filed a complaint with Phnom Penh Municipal Police on Monday, charging harassment similar to that encountered by Ros Sovannareth and slain FTU president Chea Vichea.
A statement from the union said that on Feb 9 Pov Bunthoeun was chased by men on two motorbikes. They chased Pov Bunthoeun until he turned into a gas station, where there were witnesses.
It also said that on May 14, two menacing men had followed Pov Bunthoeun on foot outside the PCCS factory until he lost them among the crowd of workers.
“Please, Municipal Police, protect my security because so far the victims who were killed had similar experiences before they were killed,” the statement said.
