Cambodia's most prominent trade union activist Chea Vichea was shot dead in downtown Phnom Penh Thursday as he sat at a street-side newspaper stand, police said.
As the president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of Cambodia, Chea Vichea led numerous workers' rights demonstrations in the capital and was a strong supporter of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).
"The victim was shot three times in the chest while he was reading the newspaper and he died immediately," Phnom Penh criminal police chief Heng Pou told AFP.
"We are taking this investigation very seriously but we cannot come to any immediate conclusions about who is behind the killing," he added.