PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
By Lauren Crothers
A four-year-old case against five journalists accused of extorting $300 from a man who is alleged to have been dealing illegal wood finally got underway in Cambodia this week, amid claims that the journalists - three of whom are on the run - are being framed for the crime.
The case before the Kompong Chhnang provincial court was put on ice in 2010 because, according to the only reporter who appeared in court, the then-prosecutor - Penh Vibol - is the adopted brother of the alleged dealer, Tith Sroeu.
Speaking to The Cambodia Daily this week, journalist Chan Thy denied extorting the money from Sroeu.
He insisted that an interaction in November 2010 revolved around the reporters stopping and questioning Sroeu as he tried to bring ten oxcarts of highly sought-after rosewood into Kompong Chhanng from Pursat province.
He denies having asked the dealer to hand over money.
A story he wrote about the incident for the Deum Ampil news website named Vibol as being a relative of the dealer.
Thy told the daily he believes the case was Vibol’s way of exacting revenge on the reporters, who originally numbered six.
One of the men died after receiving his summons, which Thy believes to be related to the stress of having to appear in court.
The nexus between journalists and the logging industry is not exactly uncommon and has proven dangerous and fatal.
In July, The Cambodia Daily reported on two separate cases in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces, where a publisher and three journalists were arrested on suspicion of trying to extort money from illegal loggers after stopping their vehicles.
The case in Stung Treng was the fifth in the province since January of journalists allegedly attempting to get bribes from illegal loggers in exchange for not writing about the practice.
A 2013 Freedom House report on press freedom in Cambodia noted, "Journalists' pay is very low, and accepting bribes to run or withhold particular stories is not uncommon."
However, in some cases, extortionists have made a living by posing as reporters and blackmailing companies believed to be involved in the lucrative illegal timber trade, the daily said.
The newspaper said that in April, a journalist in Preah Vihear province was beaten for trying to photograph logged luxury timber in a car, while another was detained in Pursat province for trying to take a similar photograph. A third was beaten in Kompong Cham province for reporting on illegal logging in the area.
Two weeks after the murder of Ratanakkiri province journalist Hang Serei Oudom, whose body was stuffed in the boot of his car two years ago, a reporter was pistol-whipped for writing about illegal logging, according to the Phnom Penh Post.
Cambodia ranked 143rd among 179 countries in the annual press ranking by Reporters Without Borders in 2013, below Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. Ten journalists have been murdered since 1993, with all cases still unsolved.
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