‘MEET TO KILL’

Former soldier jailed for brazen daytime shooting of govt critic last July

PHNOM PENH

ACOURT yesterday jailed a former soldier for life for the brazen daytime shooting of a strident government critic, a killing that stunned the kingdom’s hemmed-in rights community.

Oeuth Ang, an unemployed exsoldier, shot Kem Ley in the head while his victim was having a morning coffee at a petrol station here in July.

He had told the court he shot Kem Ley over a property deal that went bad, which saw him hand the activist US$3,000 (RM13,275) — more than double Cambodia’s average annual wage.

Supporters of Kem Ley have cast doubt over the apparent motive, in a country where assassinations of government opponents and land and environmental activists are all too common.

Delivering the ruling, judge