When journalist Mech Dara found out he was losing his job on Sunday, he had a sense of deja vu.
VOD, or Voice of Democracy, is the third independent Cambodian newsroom Dara has worked for to have been silenced – in one form or another – in the past six years.
The Khmer and English language outlet was seen as one of the last frontiers of free press in the country – until Cambodian leader Hun Sen ordered its closure after declaring it had published a story that “hurt” his government’s reputation.
