Crime and law enforcement

On Tuesday, Minister of the Interior Sar Kheng said slow judicial procedures and an ongoing crackdown on drugs are causing an increase in inmates in Cambodian prisons, resulting in serious concerns over prisoner welfare. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will allow the ministries of Interior and Justice, and relevant institutions to convene with the aim of solving the problem of prison overcrowding. Interior Minister Sar Kheng requested the meeting due to the rapid increase in convicted felons, according to Chin ...

The Forestry Administration and Military Police seized an assortment of wildlife parts, including those from rare and almost extinct species, from a sculpture shop in Chbar Ampov district, Phnom Penh on Monday. One military policeman who participated in the crackdown but asked to remain anonymous ...

A prviate company filling Preah Sihanouk province’s Praek Treng beach with soil is reluctant to dredge it despite a direct order from Prime Minister Hun Sen. On September 18, the prime minister ordered Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Chea Sophara to personally ...

The number of people being held in Cambodian prisons has reached epidemic proportions, leading to overcrowding and corruption, and causing families to suffer unnecessarily, claims a report by local NGO Licadho. However, Ministry of Justice spokesman Chin Malin rejected the findings, saying the rise in ...

Seven gold mine shafts in Kratie province’s Sambo district were dismantled and filled completely on Wednesday following a complaint from a Chinese-owned mining company. Provincial mines and energy department director Sok Kiriroth said the shafts in Kbal Domrey commune legally belong to Xing Yuan Kanng ...

The Defence Ministry prevented more than 4,000 border crimes so far this year and has pledged to continue cooperating with neighbouring countries to fight crime. A report posted yesterday by ministry spokesman General Chhum Sucheat on his Facebook page said that the Royal Cambodian Armed ...

One of six Cambodian villagers was arrested by Thai soldiers on Sunday night for allegedly crossing the border to log rosewood in Thailand. Pov Pheng, deputy head of Cambodian-Thai border liaison office at the International O’smach Border Checkpoint, identified the villager as Roeun Sela, 35, ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday resumed the trial of the “Adhoc 5,” the name for a group of rights activists accused of bribing a hairdresser to lie about an alleged romantic relationship with jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha. The full-day hearing proceeded without ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Sunday revealed the story behind the transfer of former opposition party leader Kem Sokha from Trapaing Phlong prison in Tbong Khmum province to his house in the capital. Speaking at the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) headquarters in Prey Veng ...

A senior Interior Ministry official has urged police to take tough action against Chinese nationals committing crimes in the Kingdom. Speaking during a meeting with police officials yesterday, General Sok Phal, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, said that immigration police had ...

Former president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokha was released from prison on Monday on court-supervised bail due to unspecified health conditions, with one of his lawyers saying the conditions set were so strict they amounted to house arrest. ...

Opposition leader Kem Sokha was released on bail this morning after more than a year in pre-trial detention at Trapiang Thlong prison, also known as Correctional Centre 3 (CC3). He was held on treason charges. One of his lawyers Chan Chen confirmed the release and ...

The European Parliament is set to hold urgent debates on selected human rights, democracy and rule of law topics on Thursday in Strasbourg, France, a briefing released by the body said last week. Discussion on Cambodia will centre on the imprisonment of court-dissolved Cambodia National ...

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson was grilled on Tuesday, over his connections to the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and Sam Rainsy. It marked the sixth day of his hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court over espionage charges. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday postponed the hearing of five human rights activists dubbed the “Adhoc 5” due to the absence of key witnesses. Four officials from rights group Adhoc – Nay Vanda, Ny Sokha, Yi Soksan and Lim Mony, and Ny Chakrya, ...

In a royal decree signed on Monday night, King Norodom Sihamoni pardoned 14 former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) officials, including senior official Meach Sovannara, at the request of prime minister-designate Hun Sen. They were released last night. ...

King Norodom Sihamoni yesterday granted a royal pardon to former Khmer Power Party president Sourn Serey Ratha, who had been jailed for just over a year after being convicted of inciting military personnel disobedience and demoralising the army. .. ...

Heng Sok, who represented 50 families in a land dispute with Oknha Ly Yong Phat was sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined two million riel ($500) by the Koh Kong Provincial Court on Tuesday, on a charge of “using violence on a property ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday freed on bail, two former Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporters, who were charged with espionage. Oun Chhin, 49, and Yeang Sochea Meta (Sothearin), 35, were arrested by the Meanchey district authorities on November 14, last year, and spent ...

Pursat provincial police and fishery administration officials cracked down on a large scale illegal fishing operation along Tonle Sap lake and seized equipment including over 5,300 fishing nets in Kandieng district’s Raing Til commune. ...

A joint task-force consisting of the national police and Pursat province’s Phnom Kravanh district police on Saturday arrested five people found transporting illegally-felled timber in Santre commune. ...

The Mondulkiri provincial authority on Wednesday refuted claims that it had turned a blind eye to illegal timber trafficking to neighbouring Vietnam. The denial followed the discovery of over 500 pieces of first-grade timber by the National Military Police in protected areas and local media ...

The Stung Treng Provincial Forestry Administration yesterday said it confiscated 52 pieces of illegal wood in Stung Treng city on Monday after getting a tip that the cargo was being loaded onto a boat on the Sekong river. ...