Jeremy Colson

Banned by the Cambodian authorities, the documentary “Who Killed Chea Vichea?” investigates the 2004 assassination of labor leader Chea Vichea.

As president of the Free Trade Union, Cambodia’s largest labor organization, Vichea was widely admired for his tireless fight to increase wages and improve working conditions for his members.

It was a dangerous job which often brought him into conflict with powerful people and institutions, but despite numerous beatings, threats and arrests, he continued his work until three bullets on a quiet morning silenced him forever.

Under intense international pressure, the police arrested two men and extracted a confession. They were sentenced to 20 years in prison; but did they have anything to do with the crime?

U.S. film-maker Bradley Cox spent the next five years investigating Vichea's murder, tracking down reluctant witnesses and examining the police’s evidence until an open and shut case looks more like an elaborate frame-up.

The implications go far beyond the police station and the courtroom: all the way to the halls of power and the headquarters of the ruling party.

On May 1st of this year, in honor of International Labor Day, trade unionists attempted to premiere the film at the site where Vichea was murdered, but riot police intervened, seizing and destroying the screens.

The Cambodian government has declared the film an illegal import and announced it intends to prevent any screenings "wherever they are held." www.whokilledcheavichea.com