Local freelance reporter Taing Try was shot while investigating Cambodia’s illegal logging industry in the southern Kratie province early on Sunday, Oct. 12.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with the killing: Ben Hieng, chief of Sre Chhouk police in Keo Seima district, Mondulkiri province; Khim Pheakdey a military police officer in Phnom Penh; and La Narong, a soldier in Mondulkiri. The three are suspected traffickers in Cambodia’s illegal timber industry.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova condemned the killing, saying “People and communities must be informed and they require information from diverse channels, so they can make important personal and professional choices. This is why the work of journalists like Taing Try is so essential and why it is so important that those responsible for his murder are brought to justice.”