Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Justice
UN envoy offers help with surrogacy laws
Visiting U.N. envoy Rhona Smith on Tuesday offered to help Cambodia draft its first laws on surrogacy, a ministry spokesman said. The special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, who arrived on Monday for a 10-day visit, met with Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana to discuss ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-offers-help-surrogacy-laws-119167/
China MoU to help ‘reform’ judiciary
China has signed an agreement to assist the Kingdom with judicial reforms and to share expertise in overhauling such systems, though one international expert yesterday cautioned that China shouldn’t be considered “a model for justice reform in Cambodia”. ...
Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/china-mou-help-reform-judiciary
ICRC offers prisons help
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is willing to offer assistance in future prison building projects, and in the preparation of prison management policies that are in line with international standards, the National Police website said on Tuesday. According to the website, the ICRC ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/30054/icrc-offers-prisons-help/
Kem Ley’s brother brands official’s comments ‘insulting’
After an Interior Ministry spokesman last week suggested that an investigation into the murder of Kem Ley had been slowed by his wife fleeing the country, the slain analyst’s friends and family on Sunday blasted the government’s slow and secretive response over the past two ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kem-leys-brother-brands-officials-comments-insulting-117879/
Justice ministry to consider laws on surrogate mothers
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana agreed to consider drafting the country’s first surrogacy law during a Friday meeting with Australia’s ambassador to Cambodia, according to the minister’s spokesman. ...
Kang Sothear and Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/justice-ministry-to-consider-laws-on-surrogate-mothers-116112/
Justice ministry praises UN rapporteur
Justice Ministry spokesman Chin Malin sang the praises of UN Special Rapporteur Rhona Smith on Saturday, following a report in the Post on Friday that she had lost the confidence of many in the human rights community. ...
Gov’t chides EU over Sokha statement
A Justice Ministry spokesman yesterday lashed out at European Union representatives for a statement condemning the “judicial harassment” of opposition leader Kem Sokha, while the Ministry of Education slammed a teachers union that backed the CNRP acting president. ...
Lay Samean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-chides-eu-over-sokha-statement
Justice ministry to join committee to settle strikes
Officials at the Ministry of Justice will join members of the Labor Ministry, local authorities, police and provincial governors on the Committee for the Settlement of Strikes and Demonstrations after a union leader requested they be included. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25283/justice-ministry-to-join-committee-to-settle-strikes/
Officer convicted of fraud still employed at Defense University
A military officer convicted of fraud and sentenced to one year in prison in October is still employed by the National Defense University (NDU), the school confirmed this week, despite the fact that the officer’s co-conspirator is now behind bars. ...
Buth kimsay and Taylor O'connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officer-convicted-of-fraud-still-employed-at-defense-university-112874/
Vathana ‘partner’ no fan of prime minister
A notorious fraudster with whom Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana allegedly had a business relationship has turned out to be a violent critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vathana-partner-no-fan-prime-minister
Panama papers link Justice minister to fraudsters
Two convicted Cambodian-American fraudsters were named among five shareholders, including Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, in a shadowy offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands in the latest trove of “Panama Papers,” which were released on Tuesday. ...
Taylor O'Connell and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/panama-papers-link-justice-minister-to-fraudsters-112429/
Justice minister wants Battambang land dispute resolved
Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vattana has weighed in on a prolonged land dispute at the Battambang Provincial Court that has seen three protestors shot and another imprisoned. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/justice-minister-wants-battambang-land-dispute-resolved
Requests for pardons way down: official
The Ministry of Justice has received far fewer official requests for this year’s stricter round of pardons and sentence reductions, scheduled to coincide with the Visak Bochea Buddhist holiday, a spokesman said yesterday. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/requests-pardons-way-down-official
Offshore holdings are up for grabs, justice minister jokes
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana quipped over the weekend that anyone who can find his offshore financial holdings—revealed earlier this month as part of the “Panama Papers” leak—can keep the money, according to Information Minister Khieu Kanharith. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/offshore-holdings-are-up-for-grabs-justice-minister-jokes-111464/
New year pardons delayed to Visak Bochea day
The Ministry of Justice has announced that Royal pardons and reductions of prison sentences have been pushed back to Visak Bochea Day in May, as a result of prisons not offering enough information about potential candidates. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23812/new-year-pardons-delayed-to-visak-bochea-day/
Kingdom's judiciary perceived as most corrupt: UNDP
The judiciary is perceived as the most corrupt government institution in the Kingdom, according to a United Nations Development Programme global survey of corruption in the judiciary released on Friday. ...
Chhin Malin
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kingdoms-judiciary-perceived-most-corrupt-undp
Probe into justice minister possible, ACU chief says
The Anti-Corruption Unit has not yet opened an investigation into Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana’s secretive offshore holdings, but the unit’s chairman said on Thursday that a future probe could not be ruled out. ...
Ben Sokhean and Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/probe-into-justice-minister-possible-acu-chief-says-110998/
Justice minister denies shares in shadowy offshore firm
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana had a stake in a shadowy offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, according to data made public on Sunday in what is being called the largest leak of secret documents in history. ...
Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/justice-minister-denies-shares-in-offshore-firm-110852/
Justice minister, opposition talk pretrial detention, Khaou case
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana met on Friday with the National Assembly’s opposition-led human rights commission to discuss issues related to judicial independence and court procedure, including government interference in the court system and abuse of the pretrial detention system. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/justice-minister-opposition-talk-pretrial-detention-khaou-case-110444/
Magistracy meet calls for order in the court
Judge and prosecutors were called to a two-day workshop to address the sector’s pervasive ethics challenges, but legal experts said change could not occur until there were concrete rules, instead of vague moral guidelines. ...
Mech Dara and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/magistracy-meet-calls-order-court
‘Advice’ for judiciary questioned
A transparency advocate yesterday cautiously greeted a plan for consultation between judges, prosecutors and Justice Ministry officials handling land dispute and other controversial cases, though an international lawyer said it could compromise judicial independence. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/advice-judiciary-questioned
Ministry to ease off detention in land disputes
The Ministry of Justice on Friday announced two key changes to court policy related to land dispute cases as part of the government’s broader efforts to improve its handling of such disputes in the lead-up to the 2018 national election. ...
UN rights envoy to visit in wake of ‘color revolution’ case
The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia will arrive for her second fact-finding mission today, following the U.N.’s censure of the government over the widely-criticized conviction of a political science student for calling for a “color revolution” on Facebook. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-rights-envoy-to-visit-in-wake-of-color-revolution-case-110152/
Crime down in 2015, armed robberies up: report
Though the Kingdom’s total number of reported crimes was down in 2015, instances of robbery and armed robbery in some provinces noticeably increased, according to an annual National Police report. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22877/crime-down-in-2015--armed-robberies-up--report/