Death in the Forest

"It's like war, it's a front line and if you stand up against a real Mafia organisation which is what it is... you live dangerously." - Marcus Hardtke, Environmental Campaigner

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Three weeks ago one of Asia's leading environmental activists was gunned down in Cambodia. Chut Wutty had been documenting illegal logging in the protected Cardamom Forest, one of the last remaining pristine areas in south-east Asia. What it was that he found and who killed him is clouded in mystery, within a day of Wutty being killed David O'Shea was flying into Cambodia to pick up on the trail of Wutty's execution.

 REPORTER: David O’Shea

Transcript: SBS Dateline

They came from far and wide to farewell Cambodia's eco warrior. Chut Wutty was a soldier turned environmental activist - a defender of the forests and an arch enemy of the business interests exploiting them.

SAM CHANTHY (Translation): He was very, very brave. He wasn’t afraid of anyone, because he thought he was doing the right thing.

Wutty was shot and killed in a jungle clearing in a remote and lawless corner of the country. He had been investigating in an area where illegal logging is rife. But many here believe he may have uncovered something else.

SAM CHANTHY (Translation): I want to appeal to people inside and outside Cambodia to find justice for my husband, because he was killed unjustly.

MARCUS HARDTKE, ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGNER: What happened is that we reached the stage in Cambodia where people get killed for looking at things and they get killed by government officials working for an illegal raquet.

Marcus Hardtke had a close and unique partnership with Wutty in the battle to protect Cambodia's natural resources. He has been flying under the radar for years as an investigator for environmental campaign organisations working behind the scenes, he was channelling funds to Wutty, who was active on the ground.

MARCUS HARDTKE: It's a risky job. It's like war. It's a front line and if you stand up against a real Mafia organisation which is what it is, it's textbook organised crime, you live dangerously.

Cambodia: Journalists hounded by ‘forest mafiosi’

Relatives of prime minister implicated in intimidation

25.06.2007
By Andrew Wasley
Index for Free Expression

Illegal logging is rife in Cambodia, but journalists investigating the problem have faced violence and threats, writes Andrew Wasley

Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country's government of involvement in illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder.

In Cambodia's Family Trees UK-based campaign group Global Witness claims that leading figures in Cambodia's government - including relatives of Prime Minister Hun Sen - are complicit in destroying large swathes of the country's remaining forests and is calling for international donors to conduct a thorough inquiry into the activities of this 'forest mafiosi' before pledging future development money.

The Cambodian authorities responded to the report's allegations by banning its publication inside the country, threatening Global Witness campaigners and harassing journalists reporting on the story.

The Prime Minister's brother earlier this month directly threatened Global Witness, stating that ‘if they [...] come to Cambodia I will hit them until their heads are broken’. Copies of the investigative report have subsequently been confiscated in Phnom Penh and several journalists targeted for covering the story.

Lem Piseth, a reporter with Radio Free Asia, received an anonymous death threat by mobile telephone after producing a piece looking at deforestation in the Kompong Thom province in central Cambodia. The caller accused Piseth of being insolent and asked if he wanted to die before stating that there would ‘not be enough land to bury you in’.

The journalist also claimed that whilst researching the story, he was followed by police and the military and was unexpectedly forced to leave a hotel by its owners, who provided no explanation. Piseth, fearing for his life following the death threat, has now fled to Thailand.

Soren Seelow, news editor with the French language daily Cambodge Soir, also suffered after publishing extracts of the Global Witness report in an article highlighting the pressure group's findings. Seelow was summarily dismissed by the paper's owners who claimed the article would upset the authorities and put them in a difficult position.

Employees on the newspaper subsequently striked in protest at Seelow's removal, and have now been told the newspaper faces closure.

Reporters Sans Frontières said: ‘It is obvious that the Global Witness report on the over-exploitation of the Cambodian forests is upsetting some people. Since this report was released, all media have been subjected to unjustified state censorship... [W]e urge the authorities to identify those who made threats [to Lem Piseth] so he can safely resume his work.’

The report alleges that one of the most powerful logging syndicates in the country is the Seng Keang Company, allegedly controlled by the Prime Minister’s cousin Dy Chouch; his ex-wife Seng Keang; her brother Seng Kok Keang; the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun; and Director General of the Forest Administration, Ty Sokhum.

Under the guise of a rubber plantation scheme, the syndicate is accused of logging timber from the Prey Long forest. The targeting of resin trees has also destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands of families living in the area, the report states.

Global Witness also claims that the company attempted to kill two community forest activists who had protested against illegal logging in Prey Long. It is alleged that the elite army unit, known as the Brigade 70, which reportedly has close connections to senior politicians, including the Prime Minister, has transported illegally logged-timber and other smuggled goods.

Environmentalists and human rights pressure groups are now calling on a ‘complacent’ international donor community to launch their own inquiry into the allegations - and support the prosecution of those involved. Failure to do so, argue campaigners, will effectively mean that international money will continue to be fed into a corrupt regime and ultimately offer little benefit to Cambodia's impoverished people.

It is not the first time the Cambodian authorities have attempted to stifle the findings of Global Witness; in 2005 copies of a previous report Taking A Cut were confiscated by customs officials at Pochentong Airport; in 2002 a senior Global Witness campaigner was beaten by a gang of masked men armed with sticks in Phnom Penh. Previous to this, activists had received threats by email from forest concession security staff.

Illegal logging, in Cambodia and across the world, is big business and frequently linked to organised crime and corrupt government officials.