Sok Ratha (Journalist, Cambodia)

In 2009, journalist Sok Ratha went to cover a long-running land dispute in a village in the remote Cambodian province of Ratanakkiri. At the heart of the controversy was 260 hectares of land, being fought over by a rubber company, DM Group, and more than 100 families from the indigenous group Tumpuon.

Today, DM Group has taken possession of the land. The majority of villagers have fled the area. Many of those who have stayed put have been threatened and intimidated. Twelve of them have faced legal charges.

In October 2012, Sok Ratha and three rights defenders were summoned to court – most recently for allegedly inciting villagers to protest. He faces similar charges from 2009, despite the fact that the charges were brought against him by a judge accused of delinquency for allegedly working with the rubber company.

This doesn't seem to faze Sok Ratha.

For years the provincial authorities and the court have harassed him for his reporting. In 2004, Sok Ratha was arrested for documenting the plight of a group of Christian Montagnards, hill tribes people fleeing religious repression in Vietnam and hiding in the Ratanakiri jungle.

A couple of years later, while trying to report on illegal logging involving military authorities, he was run down by a truck driven by a military official. He was dragged 100 metres but escaped serious injury.

Sok Ratha has declined several offers from RFA to relocate to the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, choosing to remain with his family in Ratanakiri and to keep on reporting. "This is my job," he declared, "and [fellow journalists] will think as I do."

Stand with Sok Ratha and defend free expression.

A special thank you to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights for contributing to this action.

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