Vorn Pao, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association, speaks at a ceremony outside Wat Langka commemorating 16 years since the murder of union leader Chea Vichea.

Around 100 people including unionists, family members and civil society representatives called on authorities to reopen the investigation into the unsolved murder of trade union leader Chea Vichea during a ceremony marking 16 years since the union leader was shot outside Wat Langka in central Phnom Penh.

Standing just metres away from the site of the shooting, trade union leaders also urged workers across the country to continue Vichea’s struggle for workers’ rights and warned that the looming withdrawal of the Everything But Arms trade agreement with the European Union could have devastating consequences for workers and their families. The peaceful Buddhist ceremony took place under surveillance by more than 60 police, plainclothes officers and Daun Penh security guards.

Vichea, who served as president of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, was gunned down in broad daylight on January 22, 2004 at a newspaper stall just outside the pagoda. More than a decade on, the murderers have still not been brought to justice. Instead, two innocent men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeurn, were falsely convicted and imprisoned for five years before their sentences were finally overturned.