September 16, 2009
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia on Tuesday filed a formal protest with neighbouring Thailand saying that Thai soldiers shot and burned alive a teenager for illegally cutting down trees on their border.
In a letter presented to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh and seen by AFP, Cambodia's foreign ministry called the alleged incident last Friday an "inhuman act" and urged Thai authorities to investigate.
The letter said that Yon Rith, 16, was one of two Cambodian teenagers shot and badly wounded by Thai soldiers after they and other villagers were illegally felling trees on the frontier.
"One of them named Mao Kleung managed to escape the scene, while the other injured boy named Yon Rith... was arrested and burned alive by the Thai forces," the letter said.
"Cambodia considers these reported acts as a serious breach of internationally-accepted humanitarian principle," it said.
Cambodia also asked Thailand to prevent similar acts and to investigate the "unfortunate incident to bring to justice those who committed the above acts of cruelty," the letter said.
The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
