Human rights and environmental groups yesterday denounced the shooting death of a prominent Cambodian environmental activist by military police who confronted him while he was investigating illegal logging.
Military police spokesman Kheng Tito said National Resources Protection Group director Chut Wutty was shot on Thursday in a clash at a checkpoint in Koh Kong Province.
The activist fatally shot a military police officer in the confrontation and that it was unclear what triggered the violence or who shot first, he said.
SHOCKING
Patrick Alley, director of the -London-based environmental activist group Global Witness, said the shooting exposed the risks environmental activists in Cambodia face “in the most shocking and tragic manner.”
In Kong Chet, of the Cambodian human rights group Licadho, said the confrontation occurred when Chut Wutty refused to hand over a memory card containing photographs taken in a nearby forest that is supposed to be protected, but is notorious for illegal logging.
He said the activist had taken two journalists from the Cambodia Daily newspaper to see large-scale forest destruction and illegal rosewood smuggling, and that the confrontation occurred as the three were leaving.
The journalists were later taken to a military police office for questioning, In Kong Chet said.
Amnesty International identified the journalists as Cambodian Phorn Bopha and Olesia Plokhii, a Canadian national, and said they were later released, but Kheng Tito said that the two were still being questioned.
Amnesty International said Chut Wutty had received threats because of his activities and called for “an immediate and proper investigation into what happened.”
Chut Wutty was “one of the few remaining Cambodian activists willing to speak out against the rapid escalation of illegal logging and land grabbing which is impoverishing ordinary Cambodians and destroying the country’s rich natural heritage,” Alley said in a statement.
swift action
“The national government and international donor countries must publicly condemn his murder and take swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he added.
Global Witness and other groups claim illegal logging in Cambodia often occurs under the protection of government agencies or important people. In recent years, protests against land grabs by rich and influential people have been suppressed by deadly force.
“What happened ... is meant to be a chilling message to us, the concerned citizens, the rights advocates: ‘You mess with us, you pay with your life,’” said a statement by the Center for Cambodian Civic Education. “However, let us send a message back: We will not be bowed.”
The Phnom Penh Post newspaper said Chut Wutty was instrumental in helping it break a story last year about illegal logging and corruption in the same district where he took the journalists this week.
The Club of Cambodian Journalists, a press freedom and professional organization, condemned the shooting of Chut Wutty and urged that his attackers be brought to justice. It also asked the government to guarantee the safety of the two journalists who were with him.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in