In 6 Months, 26 Shot Dead on Border While Illegally Logging
In the first six months of the year, 26 Cambodians have been shot dead by the Thai military while illegally logging along the border, nearly double the number killed in all of 2011. “According to the Cambodian-Thai Relations Bureau documents for the semester, there were 26 Cambodian people who crossed the border to cut logs illegally in Thailand and were shot dead by the Thai military,” said a bureau official who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak with the media. According to the official, an additional 170 Cambodians have been arrested in Thailand while illegally logging—42 of whom have been released. Director of the bureau Pech Vanna later confirmed the figures. …
