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| Chut Wutty is said to have angered many influential people while campaigning for Cambodia's forests |
New York, April 26, 2012--Cambodian authorities should thoroughly
investigate a violent confrontation that led to the deaths of a police officer
and an activist who was taking two journalists to a logging site said to be
illegal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Chut Wutty, the president of the Phnom Penh-based Natural
Resource Conservation Group, was taking Phorn Bopha and Olesia Plokhii, journalists
for the local newspaper The Cambodia Daily,
to a site in a protected forest in Koh Kong province where logging was taking
place, according to news reports. Cambodian journalists have been threatened in
the past for reporting on alleged government complicity in illegal logging,
according to CPJ research.
When the group arrived at a military checkpoint, the police
demanded Wutty's camera memory card, which contained images of logging said to
be illegal, news reports said. "Chut Wutty refused to hand over a memory card
with photos taken in the nearby forest by him and the journalists," The
Associated Press reported, citing a local human rights group.
During the confrontation, police began firing at the men,
and Wutty was killed, news reports said. While The
Phnom Penh Post said the police officer was killed by a bullet
ricocheting from Wutty's vehicle, other news accounts reported that Wutty had
returned fire. The journalists, who were unhurt, were being questioned by the
police about the incident, the Post
reported.
The Post cited a
military spokesperson as saying that MDS
Import Export, a local logging company, had asked the police to prevent the group
from photographing the area. International environmental groups say the government
and the military are frequently complicit in the rampant illegal logging in
Cambodia, according to the AP.
"We're concerned by the death of Chut Wutty, who was
assisting journalists reporting on a highly
sensitive topic in Cambodia," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "Authorities
must immediately launch a full investigation of the shooting incident."
5 comments:
Where is the body of the military policeman that was killed. Maybe this is just a cover up excuse by ah kwack gov.
Radio Free Asia reported that the authority claimed that the policeman died of his own bullets. He shot Wutty, the bullets hit his car, bounced back and killed him (policeman). This is a joke, how can his own bullets are so accurate in bouncing back to kill its owner. I think the senior police officers involved in the illegal logging ordered both of them killed to cover up.
It is another lost to KHMER people.
We miss Mr. Chhut Vuthy (Chut Wutty) terribly. He is our Khmer hero.
We are very sad and our tears come down on our faces.
Khmer Yeurng
A rarity in character and perseverance in stamina and endurance in life; I wish I was like you. You are our hero that one cannot imagine and fathom to emulate. Your death is an immeasurable loss to Cambodia and our way future’s way of life. In heaven, rest in peace my friend and someday I and one of us future generation will carry on your legend and legacy in preserving our national treasure. I pray for your Family.
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