An environmental activist and a military police officer are dead in Cambodia's Koh Kong province after a confrontation Thursday over illegal logging, according to multiple media outlets. Preliminary reports indicated that the activist and officer fatally shot one another.
An environmental activist and a military police officer are dead in Cambodia's Koh Kong province after a confrontation Thursday over illegal logging, according to multiple media outlets. Preliminary reports indicated that the activist and officer fatally shot one another.
The human rights group Licadho said the confrontation arose after activist Chut Wutty refused to hand over a digital camera's memory card that contained photos of illegal logging. The photos were snapped in a nearby forest that "is supposed to be protected but is notorious for illegal logging," according to Time. Prior to the shooting at a military checkpoint, Wutty was serving as a forest guide for two journalists from The Cambodia Daily newspaper.
The Phnom Penh Post reported on Tuesday that Cambodia's military police have thus far offered three diverging accounts of how Wutty and police officer In Rattana were killed: Either Rattana shot Wutty and was then struck by a ricocheting bullet, Rattana shot himself in regret after killing Wutty, or Wutty shot Rattana before Rattana returned fire.
Cambodia's military told The Phnom Penh Post that a joint investigative committee will be formed to investigate the shooting. The committee will include officials from Cambodia's Ministry of Interior, Council of Ministers, the Ministry of National Assembly Senate Relations & Inspection, other government departments, and the national military police. Human rights and environmental groups on Friday condemned the shooting of Wutty, a prominent Cambodian activist.
