The wife of a prominent anti-government activist shot dead in Cambodia on Sunday is reported to want to escape to Australia.
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Kem Ley, leader of a grassroots advocacy group "Khmer for Khmer", was shot three times at a petrol station in the capital Phnom Penh.
Dr Ley had close ties to the Cambodian community in Australia and was in Melbourne in April as a guest of Victorian MP Hong Lim.
Youhorn Chea, from the Cambodian Australian Federation, told Fairfax Media he had contacted Dr Ley's wife, Bou Rachana, after the killing to ask if she wanted to leave Cambodia.
"I just asked her opinion which country she wanted to go to, and she told me she wanted to go to Australia," Mr Chea said.
According to a report in the Phnom Penh Post, Ms Rachana is pregnant with the couple's fifth child and wanted her family to leave Cambodia, fearing for their safety.
Mr Chea said his organisation was willing to sponsor her settlement in Australia should she be allowed to relocate.
The Australian government has a controversial deal with Cambodia to settle refugees from Nauru, despite growing international concern over the crackdown on human rights in the country.
Dr Ley was a frequent critic of the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen, south-east Asia's longest serving autocrat.
Cambodian police said Dr Ley was shot after a dispute over money, but the $3000 amount of the reported loan has raised doubts about the claim.
Mr Hun Sen has pledged a "vigorous investigation" of the killing.
Ms Rachana told the Cambodia Daily she feared for her life in the wake of her husband's killing.
A former Cambodian soldier was charged on Wednesday with Dr Ley's murder.
with Reuters
