evidence: STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — It was late in the afternoon of Sept. 16 when Ouk Mao finally answered his phone. The environmental journalist had spent much of that Monday making preparations in case he was jailed the next day. Mao was accused of illegal logging in the northeastern province of Stung Treng. Mao is known in his community for having played a key role in exposing a land grab perpetrated by mining company Lin Vatey, which has ties to senior figures within the Cambodian military. [...] Over the course of 2022 and 2023, Mongabay investigated a massive illegal logging operation in what is now Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park in Stung Treng province. We uncovered that the ultimate beneficial owner of the operation was Meuk Saphannareth, deputy director of Cambodia’s prisons department and a three-star military general.