Activist
Chut Wutty in early 2012, just months before he was gunned down. His
supporters plan to return to the site where he was shot to mark the
second anniversary of his death. MATHIEU YOUNG
To honour Chut Wutty
Nearly two years have passed since Cambodia’s leading forestry activist, Chut Wutty, was gunned down in the Cardamom Mountains.
After a long wait, more than 100 activists, supporters and monks will
finally make the pilgrimage on Saturday to the spot where he was killed
to pay their respects.
Forestry activists will travel from far afield to attend, joining
monks from Koh Kong province offering prayers and blessings in
remembrance of a man many revere as a martyr who strove to protect
Cambodia’s rapidly depleting forests from seemingly insatiable business
interests.
Wutty was fatally shot while investigating illegal logging in Mondul
Seima district’s Bak Khlang commune on April 26, 2012, in the company of
two journalists working for a local newspaper.
Charges against the man suspected of firing the fatal shots, In
Rattana, were eventually dropped because both victim and suspect were
dead – Rattana having been shot shortly after Wutty.
Timber Green employee Ran Borath was found guilty by Koh Kong
Provincial Court in October 2012 of the “accidental killing” of Rattana,
but he would only serve six months of his two-year sentence.
Government officials at the time put forward a series of explanations
that rights groups called “bizarre” and “contradictory” following the
shooting, before pinning the blame on Rattana.
“I will continue seeking justice for my doting father, even though the Cambodian court rejects his case,” Rasmey said.
After two years, Oddom Rasmey said he has been left with more
questions than answers. He is preparing to file a case to the
International Court of Justice, he added, as the Cambodian justice
system has failed to properly investigate the killing.“I want to seek
justice for my father, whoever is behind the killing of my father,” he
said.
The killing sent shockwaves through the activist community, with one
prominent rights worker saying it set a “very chilling precedent for
anyone who wants to speak out against the status quo in Cambodia”.
Chhum Yim, a forest activist who worked closely with Wutty, said he
hoped the authorities would allow the commemoration to be held without
obstruction.
“We are not afraid because, in the past, even though there were
threats from the police, I and Chut Wutty still tried to curb forest
crimes,” he said.
But despite the best efforts of activists such as Wutty and Yim, the
depletion of Cambodia’s forests continues virtually unabated.
About 42 per cent of the country was covered in dense forest in 1973,
with only about 11 per cent remaining, maps released by Open
Development in December showed. In a particularly glaring example, the
Snuol Wildlife Sanctuary has been 90 per cent deforested. Since 2009,
about 60 per cent of the evergreen coverage in the sanctuary has been
lost to vast government-sanctioned economic land concessions.
Illegal loggers backed by big business have continued to find new ways to circumvent bans and reinvent the industry.
A Post investigation earlier this month revealed that the populations
of whole districts in Preah Vihear province had been encouraged to fell
trees on an industrial scale for tycoon Try Pheap’s MDS Import Export
Co, leading to anarchic logging on a scale that may be unprecedented in
Cambodia.
Attendees at Saturday’s no-doubt solemn ritual will mourn both the
man Wutty was and the passing of a robust resistance to rampant illegal
logging that has now waned, Yim said.
“If Chut Wutty was still alive, the forest destruction would not be
as anarchic as it is now,” he said. “We also try to make a difference,
but we are not as powerful as he was.”
than answers. He is preparing to file a case to the International
Court of Justice, he added, as the Cambodian justice system has failed
to properly investigate the killing.
“I want to seek justice for my father, whoever is behind the killing of my father,” he said.
The killing sent shockwaves through the activist community, with one
prominent rights worker saying that it set a “very chilling precedent
for anyone who wants to speak out against the status quo in Cambodia”.
Chhum Yim, a forest activist who worked closely with Wutty, said he
hoped the authorities would allow the commemoration to be held without
obstruction.
“We are not afraid because, in the past, even though there were
threats from the police, I and Chut Wutty still tried to curb forest
crimes,” he said.
But despite the best efforts of activists such as Wutty and Yim, the
depletion of Cambodia’s forests continues virtually unabated.
About 42 per cent of the country was covered in dense forest in 1973,
with only about 11 per cent remaining, maps released by Open
Development in December showed.
In a particularly glaring example, the Snuol Wildlife Sanctuary has
been 90 per cent deforested. Since 2009, about 60 per cent of the
evergreen coverage in the sanctuary has been lost to vast
government-sanctioned economic land concessions.
Illegal loggers backed by big business have continued to find new ways to circumvent bans and reinvent the industry.
A Post investigation earlier this month revealed that the populations
of whole districts in Preah Vihear province had been encouraged to fell
trees on an industrial scale for tycoon Try Pheap’s MDS Import Export
Co, leading to anarchic logging on a scale that may be unprecedented in
Cambodia.
Attendees at Saturday’s no-doubt solemn ritual will mourn both the
man Wutty was and the passing of a robust resistance to rampant illegal
logging that has now waned, Yim said.
“If Chut Wutty was still alive, the forest destruction would not be
as anarchic as it is now,” he said. “We also try to make a difference,
but we are not as powerful as he was.”
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