A Chinese man, who used his mobile phone to film a confrontation between the authorities and protesting villagers in the country’s central Hubei province, was beaten to death by city officials, according to a report by CNN on Friday.

The death of Wei Wenhua, a 41-year-old construction company executive, has been widely condemned across online forums and news sites in China, the article states.

“Wei is the first ‘citizen journalist’ to die in China because of what he was trying to film,” a statement from press freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders said.

“He was beaten to death for doing something which is becoming more and more common and which was a way to expose law-enforcement officers who keep on overstepping their limits.”