By Mao Sotheany
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Three reporters based in Ratanakiri province were arrested by the joint police force combating illegal logging. The three are currently being detained at the office of the district forestry department in O’Yadaw district in the afternoon of Monday 16 July, and they are accused of transporting illegal logs and planning to take them to sell across the border in Vietnam.
Rè Ray, the Ratanakiri police chief, told Ratha Visal, RFA reporter, about the names the three reporters: “There were three reporters: Suong Ny, Kong Sam Ath, and Kim Saroeun. Suong Ny is with the federation of Cambodian newspapers, Kong Sam Ath is with The Cambodia Daily, and Kim Saroeun is with the Kamneut Khmer (Khmer birth) newspaper. They were arrested at 4:00 PM at the O’Yadaw city.”
Rè Ray claimed that this is the first time that illegal logs were transported by a pickup truck involving reporters in Ratanakiri province.
Rè Ray said: “The joint force of O’Yadaw district, including the forestry department officials, police officers, and military police officers. (During the arrest, we found) 25 pieces of log, each measuring about 60-centimeter long. We handed all of them to the forestry department, and the three were found in the car. This is a strange affair because we never saw reporters transporting logs like this before.”
Regarding the arrest of the three reporters, Vong Somethy, director of the O’Yadaw forestry department, confirmed that when the joint O’Yadaw district force arrested the car, the car owner said that the 25 log pieces belonged to the three reporters sitting in the car, but the reporters denied that they were not theirs.
Vong Somethy said: “First, they said that (the logs) belong to the reporters, now the reporters said that they are not theirs, but that they belong to the car owner instead. At first, the car owner said that they belong to the reporters who rented the car for $100. When the reporters said that the logs belong to the car owner, the latter did not say anything because he is afraid that the reporters would not pay him.”
RFA could not contact the three reporters accused by the police. However, Uk Kim Seng, the advisor of the ministry of information in charge of national news said last night that he received the information about the arrest of the three reporters, and if indeed, the three reporters are involved in illegal log transport as charged by the O’Yadaw district authority, their actions would not be deemed compatible with the ethics of their journalistic profession.
Uk Kim Seng said: “I received the report that reporters based in Ratanakiri province were arrested by the O’Yadaw district authority and charged with transportation of illegal logs. I think they are not acting as reporters, because reporters report various information for the public to know, Therefore, this action is far from their professional ethics. Because this issue (illegal logging) is a hot topic in the Northeast area, I think that whatever the law deemed necessary, the case should follow the legal rule.”
Rè Ray, the Ratanakiri police chief, told Ratha Visal, RFA reporter, about the names the three reporters: “There were three reporters: Suong Ny, Kong Sam Ath, and Kim Saroeun. Suong Ny is with the federation of Cambodian newspapers, Kong Sam Ath is with The Cambodia Daily, and Kim Saroeun is with the Kamneut Khmer (Khmer birth) newspaper. They were arrested at 4:00 PM at the O’Yadaw city.”
Rè Ray claimed that this is the first time that illegal logs were transported by a pickup truck involving reporters in Ratanakiri province.
Rè Ray said: “The joint force of O’Yadaw district, including the forestry department officials, police officers, and military police officers. (During the arrest, we found) 25 pieces of log, each measuring about 60-centimeter long. We handed all of them to the forestry department, and the three were found in the car. This is a strange affair because we never saw reporters transporting logs like this before.”
Regarding the arrest of the three reporters, Vong Somethy, director of the O’Yadaw forestry department, confirmed that when the joint O’Yadaw district force arrested the car, the car owner said that the 25 log pieces belonged to the three reporters sitting in the car, but the reporters denied that they were not theirs.
Vong Somethy said: “First, they said that (the logs) belong to the reporters, now the reporters said that they are not theirs, but that they belong to the car owner instead. At first, the car owner said that they belong to the reporters who rented the car for $100. When the reporters said that the logs belong to the car owner, the latter did not say anything because he is afraid that the reporters would not pay him.”
RFA could not contact the three reporters accused by the police. However, Uk Kim Seng, the advisor of the ministry of information in charge of national news said last night that he received the information about the arrest of the three reporters, and if indeed, the three reporters are involved in illegal log transport as charged by the O’Yadaw district authority, their actions would not be deemed compatible with the ethics of their journalistic profession.
Uk Kim Seng said: “I received the report that reporters based in Ratanakiri province were arrested by the O’Yadaw district authority and charged with transportation of illegal logs. I think they are not acting as reporters, because reporters report various information for the public to know, Therefore, this action is far from their professional ethics. Because this issue (illegal logging) is a hot topic in the Northeast area, I think that whatever the law deemed necessary, the case should follow the legal rule.”
5 comments:
fishee like Youn's neukmam!
OMG! Are you kidding me. Three reporters transporting logs, that is unheard of. The accused are being framed for trying to report illegal activities. This is a tactic to scare potential reporters in the future for reporting about illegal logging.
So far we've only heard what the GOVERNMENT is telling the public. DO YOU Believe everything the (Cambovietnam)Government tells you?
60 cm logs??? A WHOLE pickup truck full!!!??? Thank goodness the CPP - excuse me - the RGC is on the job.
I heard in the past that some reporters would extort money from those people who are conducting illegal business such as illegal land grabbing and illegal logging if they don't want to see their name or picture in the newspaper! But for the reporters to conduct illegal business by themselves is unheard of because for one thing is that they are not official and can't produce any legal documentation and second, they don't have connection and the power to do it illegally!
I think these reporters are being frame! Good Luck! If AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave can frame an innocence monk and I don't see a reason why AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave officials can't frame these reporters!
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