A veteran reporter was shot in the stomach while investigating a forest-clearing operation in a wildlife sanctuary in northern Cambodia, according to police and the reporter’s wife.
Chhoeung Chheung, 63, was shot on Wednesday as he rode on a motorbike toward the Boeung Per sanctuary in Siem Reap province’s Chikreang district, his wife Chiev Chap said.
The gunfire came from unknown persons believed to have been hiding in a forest along the road, Chiev Chap told Radio Free Asia on Thursday, citing a conversation with her husband.
Chhoeung Chheung, who works as a journalist for the Cambodia Development News website, had previously reported about the destruction of natural resources in a community forest in the sanctuary, she said.
He was taken to Siem Reap Provincial Hospital, where doctors removed a bullet from his abdomen, according to Chiev Chap.
“He was seriously injured and called me to come and get him,” she said. “I want them to seek justice and help me because I have no money to go to the hospital.”
Police have already arrested a suspect on attempted murder charges and believe the shooting stemmed from a personal dispute – not illegal logging, Siem Reap Provincial Police Chief Huot Sothy told reporters on Thursday.
The suspect -– 40-year-old Si Loeuy –- used a homemade weapon, Huot Sothy said. He confessed to the shooting when interviewed by district police, the Siem Reap Provincial Administration said in a statement.
“It is regrettable that the gunman shot at the journalist,” said In Kongchit, the manager of human rights group Licadho’s office in neighboring Banteay Meanchey province.
“This was an attempt to commit murder,” he said. “On behalf of civil society, we request that the authorities and the governor of Siem Reap province help investigate the perpetrators and punish them according to the law.”
Previous attacks on journalists
It’s been several years since a journalist has been shot in Cambodia, said Nop Vy, executive director for the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, or Camboja.
“But this is happening again,” he said. “I am deeply saddened and I request the authorities to expedite the arrest and punishment of the perpetrators.”
Since 1994, at least 15 journalists have been killed in Cambodia, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said in a statement in October. Twelve of them were working on stories that could have posed a direct threat to powerful Cambodians, the center said.
In 2014, journalist Traing Try was fatally shot in northeastern Kratie province as he was traveling with other reporters to investigate illegal logging in the region.
Two years before that, leading Cambodian environmental activist Chut Wutty was accompanying two journalists from a local newspaper to witness what he believed was illegal logging activities when he was shot and killed by military police in southwestern Koh Kong province
A report from Camboja found seven cases of harassment of journalists that affected 11 journalists between April and June 2024.
There were six cases of judicial harassment, with 10 journalists summoned for questioning, detained and punished by the police, military police and local authorities, according to Camboja.
Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.