In Cambodia, Journalist Who Exposed Illegal Loggers Murdered

The body of a journalist who had exposed illegal loggers in Cambodia was found dead in the trunk of his car on Tuesday, according to the New York Daily News.

Hang Serei Oudom, a writer for the Vorakchun Khmer Daily, had been missing since leaving his home Sunday evening. Authorities discovered his dead body in the trunk of his car near a cashew nut plantation in Cambodia's northern Ratanakiri province. Oudom had been repeatedly hit in the head with an axe, and the case is being investigated as a murder.

According to a release from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, Oudom "wrote fearlessly about illegal logging for luxury wood in Ratanakkiri, and the stories he reported had a negative impact on the businesses of connected powerful officials."

Oudom's last article was published Sept. 6, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In it, Oudom alleged that a provincial military police officer was involved in illegal logging and had used military vehicles to smuggle illegally cut logs.