The 100-day funeral ceremony for Mr. Ley started on Friday at Wat Chas pagoda and wraps up today in Takeo province’s Tram Kak district.
At 7am yesterday, the funeral ceremony’s organizing committee paraded the 1.7-meter brass statue to Mr. Ley’s hometown, arriving at about 2pm. There will be a traditional ceremony today, the final day.
Sao Kosal, a member of the organizing committee, estimated that about 50,000 people joined in the procession of Mr. Ley’s statue, not including spectators along the route and police facilitating traffic.“People still support and noticeably participate, even though it is a 100-day ceremony,” he said.
“On the first day, people participate less, but on the second and third days, people participate more and more. It shows that people dislike injustice and neglect of authorities to arrest the real killer and seek justice properly.”
On Saturday Rhona Smith, the UN’s special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, paid her respects to Mr. Ley at Wat Chas pagoda. According to Mr. Kosal, Ms. Smith understood the difficulties the committee faced finding a location for the ceremony and the difficulties faced finding the perpetrators of Mr. Ley’s murder.
“We asked her to help to find justice for Dr. Kem Ley through transparency or an independent investigation to speed up inquiries into this case,” Mr. Kosal said.
Mr. Ley was shot twice while reading a newspaper at a Caltex gas station café in Phnom Penh on July 10. The alleged killer, Eurth Ang, was caught minutes after the shooting, but after nearly three months, little to no information about the motive behind the killing has been released by police.
Police have refused to release security camera footage from the Caltex station showing the shooting, leading to claims of either government mismanagement of the case or government involvement in the assassination.
Sem Hov, a man living in Kandal province who joined the procession yesterday, expressed regret at the loss of Mr. Ley, a man who dared to speak the truth in society, and asked the government to find justice for his murder.
“Government, please find the real killer and punish them by the law,” he said.
After yesterday’s procession, Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Mean Chanyada said he regretted that the organizing committee did not completely respect City Hall’s orders, although he admitted it did not seriously affect security or public order.
“We accepted the ceremony on Friday and Saturday which respected religious traditions. But the car procession this morning was wrong because we told him to have five cars lead first and the other vehicles to wait 10 to 15 minutes, but we saw them march continuously,” he said.
“And we asked them to gather at the Chom Chao roundabout, but the committee told them to gather at Wat Chas, so it was wrong and affected security, but not seriously.”
Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) member Eng Chhay Eang, who joined with more than 40 opposition MPs to pay their respects to Mr. Ley at Wat Chas pagoda, appealed to relevant institutions including the interior and justice ministries to expedite the investigation into Mr. Ley’s death and reveal the facts to avoid accusations that the government was involved.
Mr. Ley’s wife Bou Rachana and their five sons did not participate in the 100-day funeral ceremony as they are now staying in Thailand awaiting asylum to a third country. However, she expressed regret for her absence through Facebook and asked people to continue to support her late husband’s ideas.
“Please keep him in mind and remember him forever. Do not miss him like a straw fire [which burns quickly], please miss him like sunlight,” she said.
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