Phnom Penh - Hundreds of Cambodians joined a peaceful march Tuesday in memory of murdered unionist Chea Vichea. The march, which was sanctioned by the government and attended by politicians, unionists and ordinary citizens, marked the fourth anniversary of the shooting of Vichea in broad daylight on a busy city street as he read the newspaper.
"This is for his memory. I am very proud that so many people attended out of love for him," Vichea's brother, Chea Mony, who took over as the leader of the Free Trade Union of Cambodia (FTU) said.
The anniversary also prompted a stern reminder from the world's leading human rights groups, who are unhappy that two men were jailed 20 years for the murder in what they branded a show trial.
Both convicted men - Born Samnang and Sok Sam Ouen - had watertight alibis for the morning of the murder, and even disgraced former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Po, who oversaw the case prior to his arrest for a range of charges including murder, has said publicly that their convictions are false.
Four years after the murder six leading international human rights organizations and the world's largest trade union federation called on the Cambodian authorities to exonerate and free the two men unfairly convicted for the crime.
A joint statement by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and the International Trade Union Confederation called on the government to review the case.
"The continued imprisonment of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun without any credible evidence against them is of grave concern," the groups said, calling the trial "grossly unfair."
"From the beginning, this case has been tainted by serious procedural flaws and violations of basic fair trial rights," Sara Colm of New York-based Human Rights Watch said in the statement.
"There is compelling evidence that these two men were targeted by the authorities as scapegoats for the murder, and nobody is fooled by this charade," Souhayr Belhassen, president of the Paris-based FIDH, added.
In addition to calling for the exoneration and immediate release of the two men, the seven organizations also urged the Cambodian government to launch a full and impartial investigation into the murder and subsequent prosecution of the two men.
The rights groups also drew attention to the murders of FTU official Hy Vuthy in February 2007 and FTU steering committee head Ros Sovannarith in 2004, and said a pattern was emerging that the government needed to address.
The FTU has been closely linked politically with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party.
