"A human rights activist is slain in Cambodia, and the mystery leads all the way to California", 10 Feb 2017

…Kem Ley, a famous political pundit, walked into a convenience store at a Caltex gas station just before 9 a.m...A man approached, carrying a semi-automatic pistol. He shot Kem twice — once in the head, execution-style…

...[S]ome details from the shooting cried out for further inspection…

The truth may lie on the Caltex station’s surveillance video. Kem’s supporters have repeatedly lobbied authorities to release the video files, to no avail…

Caltex is owned by Chevron…A boutique law firm in San Francisco, BraunHagey & Borden, suspected that Chevron still had the files — and that it could force the company to release them…

The case could hinge on something called a “Section 1782 discovery” — a simple U.S. statute with complex implications. 

It stipulates that if an American company is involved in a legal proceeding outside the U.S. — say, a trial in Cambodia — a litigant can apply to an American court for evidence that could be used in that proceeding…

Hours after Kem’s killing, Sam Rainsy, head of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, had called the death an “act of state-sponsored terrorism,”…In August, Hun’s government sued Rainsy for defamation...

Also, in October 2014, a group of Cambodian citizens brought a case to the International Criminal Court, accusing Cambodian officials of crimes against humanity.

Chevron’s surveillance video was relevant to both cases, and BraunHagey & Borden filed the discovery request for the video, along with other materials, on behalf of both Rainsy and the Cambodians in the ICC case…

On Thursday, the court granted the firm’s request, allowing Chevron 30 days to object. Judge Donna M. Ryu wrote that the request for the files “does not appear to be unduly burdensome.”…