Chut Wutty Remembered in Koh Kong Memorial

Mondol Seima district, Koh Kong province – It was a gesture the late conservationist and outspoken anti-logging activist would have appreciated. After blessing the site where Chut Wutty was shot dead just over two weeks ago under still mysterious circumstances in this remote patch of the Cardamom Mountains, hundreds of villagers from across the country marched into the surrounding forest to search for the illegal logging Mr. Wutty had paid with his life to uncover. “I decided to come because I wanted to know the place where Wutty was shot dead. He was a great person who worked hard to protect the natural forest,” said Huot Chea, who had only met Chut Wutty last month for the first time at a workshop on forest protection. “He was a good person because he always helped and supported the poor people. And I especially want to know about illegal logging in this forest,” Mr. Chea said. As founder and head of the Natural Resource Protection Group, Chut Wutty became the architect of citizen patrols that brought together a hundred or more locals who would march together for days searching out the illegal logging that was destroying their native forests. …