Journalist Alleges Threats After Filming Traffic Police Taking Money

Traffic police taking money from motorists detained and threatened a citizen journalist, ordering him to delete his photos and videos of the bribery, the journalist alleged. Suon Vutha said he was on his way from Kampot to Phnom Penh on Sunday when he reached a checkpoint in Kandal’s Loeuk Dek district. He saw taxi vans overflowing with passengers, but traffic police were taking money to look the other way, Vutha said.

“Some of them were overcrowded, so they just gave 20,000-30,000 riel [$5-$7.5] to the traffic police. They let them go without any direct law enforcement,” he said. Vutha pulled out his phone to take videos, and he was taken in for questioning for more than an hour. Officers demanded to see his “mission letter” as well as ID, and ordered him to delete his videos and sign an agreement to stop.

“It’s a threat to the people,” he said. “I filmed this in public. I did nothing wrong. And he threatened to send me to the district authorities to build a case to take to court.” “He said I was wrong to film authorities while they operated.” Vutha said he eventually signed the agreement and deleted his images so he could get away.

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