Lauded activist attacked while patrolling Prey Lang forest
Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:03 am
It takes enormous courage to attempt to stand against illegal loggers.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/l ... ang-forestLauded activist attacked while patrolling Prey Lang forest
Tue, 29 March 2016
Phak Seangly and Igor Kossov
Axe-wielding assailants injured a well-known environmental activist from the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) as she was patrolling a section of Prey Lang forest in Kratie province with her group early on Sunday morning.
Phon Sopheak, 25, who accepted an award from the United Nations Development Programme on behalf of the PLCN in Paris last year, suffered a deep wound to her left leg and a smaller wound to her calf as she was resting.
“I think I was likely attacked with an axe,” Sopheak – who was unable to see her assailants in the dark of the forest – said in a phone call from Kratie Provincial Hospital yesterday.
Prey Lang experts said that as loggers push deeper into the forest, as valuable timber dwindles and as locals’ patience runs short, violent confrontations become likelier.
Sopheak was among 52 activists from PLCN patrolling the forest on 45 motorbikes between Wednesday and Sunday.
During the sweep, which the group has done routinely over the past 10 years, they intercepted multiple logging operations, seizing 14 chainsaws and more than 10 cubic metres of timber.
The activists coerced over 20 loggers to sign agreements promising to stop committing forestry crimes. One group of 10 loggers likely decided to retaliate with a nighttime sneak attack, according to activist Phay Bunleang.
The patrol team was sleeping in their hammocks, when one of their lookouts saw a light moving towards Sopheak. The activists assumed it belonged to one of them.
“I heard my motorbike fall on me – that woke me up,” said Sopheak. “I did not realise that I was attacked until I looked at my leg.”
The activists could not make out the attackers’ identities or their total number. They did not follow the fleeing assailants, concerned that they might be armed.
Since the 10 loggers detained earlier all hail from Kampong Thom, the activists plan to look up their identities
“Such an attack has never happened to us before,” said Hoeun Sopheap, another activist who went with Sopheak to Paris. “We are concerned about our work and afraid this will make some activists feel fear and stop patrolling with us.”