Wife describes slain journalist’s close call

Thursday, 20 September 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

The son of a provincial military police commander sideswiped journalist Hang Serei Oudom’s car with his government vehicle months before Oudom was found hacked to death in the back of a car in Ratanakkiri province, his widow and her lawyer said yesterday.

The officer, King Seanglay, was singled out for ties to illegal logging in the last story Oudom wrote for his newspaper, Vorakchun Khmer, on September 6. Oudom disappeared three days later.

Seanglay was briefly questioned along with a dozen others about Oudom’s murder, but investigators released him the same day.

Song Bunthanorm, chief of the serious crimes police office in Ratanakkiri province, said he did not know whether the journalist and Seanglay had a dispute with each other.

Slain journalist's mother seeks justice

(Photo: DAP-news)

Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

A journalist murdered in Ratanakkiri last week took a call from his accused killer on the night of his disappearance, his family has claimed in a complaint to the rights group Adhoc.

Ken Sovann, 63, the mother of slain journalist Hang Serei Oudom, whose body was found in his car in O’Chum district last Tuesday, will lodge the same complaint with the provincial court today, asking for US$100,000 compensation and demanding that those responsible, including accomplices, be punished.

“Please find justice for my son,” Sovann said yesterday, adding that she feared for her safety.

Journalist, forest official allegedly beat logger

Monday, 17 September 2012
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

a trend had recently emerged of local journalists attaching themselves to provincial forestry officers in Kratie and stopping people involved in the timber trade, demanding bribes in return for not reporting on their activities.

A local journalist and a forestry official were arrested by military police in Kratie province’s Sambo district on Friday night for allegedly discharging a weapon into the air and beating a man with a boat oar in an extortion bid gone awry.

According to district military police commander Chung Sokunthea, Khuth Khy, a reporter for the Khmer-language newspaper Today News, and Sandan Forestry Administration director Seng Chantarun allegedly set upon a man in a rowing boat while attempting to extort money from him for transporting luxury wood.

“This journalist and the forestry official were arrested by our military police forces after they opened fire to threaten and stop a boat rower on the river who had stocked and carried two pieces of luxury wood for making beds for his own use,” Sokunthea said, adding that the victim had suffered an injury to his shoulder.

Suspects Nabbed in Reporter’s Death

Police search for evidence in the murder of Hang Serei Oudom in Ratanakiri province, Sept. 13, 2012. (RFA)

Wife of An Bunheng and fellow suspect 'Vy,' in an undated photo. Credit: RFA

Cambodian police detain a married couple they say have links to the journalist’s murder.

2012-09-13

Radio Free Asia

Cambodian authorities on Thursday detained two suspects linked to the slaying of a journalist investigating claims of illegal logging amid calls by an international press watchdog to determine whether the murder was connected to his coverage of environmental concerns.

Military officer An Bunheng and his wife, known by her nickname "Vy," were taken into custody after police and a court prosecutor said they had found evidence at the couple’s restaurant in northeastern Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province—the last known whereabouts of victim Hang Serei Oudom before he went missing on Monday.

On Wednesday, authorities found Oudom dead in the trunk of his car, which was parked in a cashew nut plantation in the north of the province about a week after he had published an article accusing a local military police officer of extorting money from an illegal logger in the area.

Police said the journalist had apparently died from a series of axe blows to the head.

Among the evidence collected by authorities on Thursday from the restaurant were a pair of Oudom’s shoes abandoned about 65 feet (about 20 meters) from the establishment, an assortment of knives, and “other” evidence.

Journalist’s murder still under investigation

(Photo: DAP-news)

Thursday, 13 September 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

The editor-in-chief of Vorak-chun Khmer newspaper said yesterday he could not make any assumptions about the motive behind the murder of journalist Hang Serei Oudom, whose body was discovered on Tuesday.

“Most of his reports were about illegal logging. Other stories were traffic accidents and protocol news,” Rin Ratanak said, highlighting that Oudom covered a variety of topics.

Ratanak did point out that Oudom’s most recent article in the Ratanakkiri province newspaper before his death implicated the son of a provincial military commander in illegal logging activities.

Oudom, 44, disappeared on Sunday when he left his house about 7pm for a meeting.

Journalist Found Murdered

Police uncover the body of reporter Hang Serei Oudom hidden in the trunk of his car in Ratanakiri province, Sept. 11, 2012.(RFA)

The body of a Cambodian reporter who uncovered illegal logging is found in the trunk of his car.

2012-09-12

Radio Free Asia

A Cambodian journalist who exposed illegal logging and forest crimes involving the local elite has been murdered, police said Wednesday, after his battered body was found in the trunk of his car.

Hang Serei Oudom, 42, a reporter for the local Virakchum Khmer Daily newspaper, had been missing since Sunday afternoon and his body was found on Tuesday in northeastern Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province, said Ek Vun, the police chief for Balung City, the provincial capital.

Authorities are working to identify suspects involved in the murder of the reporter, who had recently written a string of stories about deforestation and timber smuggling in Ratanakiri, where logging and mining in recent years have taken a big toll on the environment.

“We have already collected the necessary evidence and we are investigating the case,” provincial governor Pao Ham Phan said.

CCHR-SEAPA: Proper Investigation is needed into the case of​ murdered journalist

https://www.box.com/s/iemf5hecefjs0d1khh0i


https://www.box.com/s/p5imhsye9hv6zfes604b

Cambodian journalist found murdered: police

Photo: DAP-news

 

A Cambodian journalist who reported on rampant illegal logging in the country has been found murdered in the boot of his car, police said.

12 Sept 2012

AFP

Hang Serei Oudom, a reporter at local-language Vorakchun Khmer Daily, was discovered on Tuesday, said senior police officer Song Bunthanorm. The vehicle was abandoned in a cashew nut plantation in northern Ratanakiri province.

"It is not a robbery case. It is a murder," he said, adding the victim had suffered several blows to the head, probably by an axe.

The 44-year-old had been missing since leaving his home on Sunday evening.

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

We would like to thank to your hard works with VOA news and also your Heart for Cambodia & its people.

VOA news is a school where Khmers people learn the knowledge of Democracy everyday.

Enjoy your retirement.

Cheers,
Sacravatoons

Former Broadcaster Describes Decades of VOA Khmer History

Retired VOA Khmer staff Ang Khen, on 'Hello VOA' on Monday. (Photo: by Soeung Sophat)

Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Now that she has retired, she reads books, especially those about women world leaders. She also recently read a biography of former president Jimmy Carter, who, she said, practices democracy even at home: He takes a vote on the family's next holiday.

Ang Khen was one of the first staff members of a refreshed VOA Khmer, when the service opened in 1962 following a hiatus. She was 21 years old, and one of few female broadcasters.

As a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday, the now retired Ang Khen said she had been the only female staff member for the Khmer service, which marked its 55th anniversary on Sunday. But she said she believed in the service's principles of truth, timeliness and objectivity.

Callers flooded the phones on Monday night, as old fans heard Ang Khen again for the first time in years.

“Since I was born, whenever VOA Khmer was on, I heard Ang Khen's voice,” caller Kong Kea of Takeo province said. “VOA is independent and brings the world close to its listeners. Everything broadcast by VOA is true. Listening to VOA is like traveling the world.”

Kong Kea asked how Ang Khen had passed an examination—at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh—to become a broadcaster.

Ang Khen said she had gone to Preah Norodom middle school and an all-girls high school in Phnom Penh. She won a scholarship to study English in the US state of Oregon. When she saw an announcement for the VOA position, she jumped at it, she said. She wasn't sure how she passed the test, but she said she had felt fortunate to have a job at the broadcast agency.

She went on to become a broadcaster through a multitude of world events: from the moon landing, the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, through the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US and the subsequent war on terror.

“I am a witness to changes in world history,” she said.

Now that she has retired, she reads books, especially those about women world leaders. She also recently read a biography of former president Jimmy Carter, who, she said, practices democracy even at home: He takes a vote on the family's next holiday.

Cambodian Journalist Wins International Award [-Congratulations to An Sithav of the Economics Today magazine!]

PHNOM PENH, Oct 27 (Bernama) -- A Cambodian journalist has won an international media award for article touching on poverty impact that caused by global economic crisis, China's Xinhua news agency reported quoting a press release issued Tuesday by Economics Today magazine.

An Sithav, 25, a reporter for Economic Today Magazine, won a 2009 Developing Asia Journalism Award, on Oct 23 held in Tokyo, Japan.

He was awarded with the first prize in the poverty impact of the global financial crisis category.

Sithav said he was surprised to hear his story, "Not Working", the lead story of the June Issue 40 of Economics Today, was worthy of a place among the finalists.

"I was very pleased that I was selected as a finalist of 2009 Developing Asia Journalist Award, and then as a winner of poverty impact of the Global Financial Crisis among the journalists of Asia Pacific region," he said.

"I do not believe I could be recognized internationally with two years experience as journalist, but now I am a representative of Cambodia who won the first place," he added.

Sithav began working as a journalist in September 2007 and he reports mostly on development which he thinks is the current pressing issue.

Parista Yuthamanop of the Bangkok Post took the second place in the same category, with Yoke Heong Chee of Malaysia's Third World Network taking the third.

Published twice monthly, Economics Today covers economic and business, politics and society, international news, and provides snapshots of key economic and financial indicators.

Reporter threatened with a gun on World Press Freedom Day

Friday, May 04, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

While Cambodian reporters are gathered to celebrate World Press Freedom Day on May 3, an report received from Battambang indicated that there was an army general who threatened to shoot a reporter. A number of local newspapers reported that a rich and powerful one-star general from the [Thai] border pulled out his handgun and threatened to shoot a reporter. The reporter was forced by the general to kneel in front of him to beg for pardon in a restaurant on 02 May. Chim Chenda, the victim, is a reporter for the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper, and Pol Sinuon, is the one-star army general who is also deputy director of the office of relation for the Cambodia-Thailand border. This incident occurred because the reporter called the general by his name (a sign of disrespect), infuriating the general who pulled out his handgun to threaten to shoot the reporter. Guests who participated in the banquet at the KO restaurant, criticized the general by saying that despite of the mistake committed by the reporter who called him by his name, the general should not pull his gun to try to shoot the reporter. The general took this action maybe because he was thinking that he has a lot of power, a lot of money, and wanted to show off his might in front of others.