Mondulkiri journalist sued by border police officer for reporting about illegal timber exports

A journalist from online Basith TV in Mondulkiri province who did a video on illegal timber exports from Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary to Vietnam was questioned after a complaint was made by a police officer at Labakhe border checkpoint in Mondulkiri.

The report published on July 23 mentioned that the border police chief had facilitated the illegal timber exportation to Vietnam. Sa Phalla, border police chief at Labakhe, said he was not involved in the crime.

Sa Phalla was not identified in the report but he said the video “intentionally” referred to him as border police chief.

On July 25, the journalist was summoned for questioning by Keo Seima district police in accordance with the complaint and forced to put his thumbprint on a document as a “correction to the information” in order to “end the dispute”.

On the same day, the media outlet issued a justification that the crime did not involve the border authorities.

The journalist noted that the authorities’ act was a form of intimidation and violated the rights of journalists.

“I know that I am following professional journalism in my reporting based on the information [video] which I filmed on my own on the midnight of July 22,” he said, requesting authorities at every level to understand the work of journalists.

He also urged them to stop harassing journalists and accusing them of exaggerating or reporting false or fake news.