In Koh Kong, Hundreds to Commemorate Chut Wutty’s Death

More than 600 people, including 50 Buddhist monks, who have been affected by illegal logging across the country arrived in Koh Kong province yesterday ahead of a memorial service to be held today at the site where well-known forestry activist Chut Wutty was shot dead on April 26. Villagers traveled to Koh Kong City by 26 trucks from eight provinces where illegal logging and economic land concessions handed out by the government for agricultural projects have threatened the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people, rights workers and villagers said. “Some trucks being loaded in Kompong Thom province successfully managed to get past road blockades set up in the province,” said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, which is organizing the event. He added that a meeting held yesterday with Koh Kong’s deputy provincial governor Un Chhaly had not resulted in a decision on whether or not villagers would be allowed to hold the ceremony in Koh Kong’s Mondol Seima district, deep in the Cardamom Mountains. …