Legal and judicial reform

The King has issued a Royal Decree on the Organisation and Functioning of the Judicial Reform Steering Committee, with Minister of Justice Keut Rith and Chiv Keng, President of the Supreme Court, as the co-chairs, along with four vice-chairmen and 19 other members. ...

Minister of Justice Koeut Rith calls on court and prosecutor’s office leaders as well as judicial and law enforcement officials at all levels to prioritise “legal and judicial reform”. He also called upon civil society organisation (CSOs) to endorse this initiative. ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on Thursday reaffirmed his vow to bridge societal divides by undertaking a major reform of the justice system. However, he warned that the task was huge and may take some time to achieve. Speaking at the 41st anniversary of Victory ...

The CNRP said on Tuesday it would join today’s meeting of the National Assembly’s agenda-setting permanent committee in hopes of pushing ahead with proposed amendments to a trio of contentious laws on judicial independence. ...

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”. ...

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. ...

The top judge and prosecutor in Cambodia’s judiciary will see their allowances rise 300 per cent to $2,500, while those in lower courts are also in for significant hikes, according to a decree released yesterday. ...

Cambodia is the single most dangerous place in the world to work as an environmental journalist, according to a new report released by the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) this week. ...

At midnight in some parts of Phnom Penh, the party is just getting started.But on Monday, City Hall said it was considering ordering all businesses that serve alcohol to close their doors by 12 a.m. to reduce fatal traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday convicted a Chinese man and three Cambodians of human trafficking over an attempt to send three Cambodian women to China as brides. ...

Mark Harmon, the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s international co-investigating judge, announced Tuesday that he was stepping down from his position following almost a year of inaction by judicial police in executing arrest warrants in two government-opposed cases. ...

Three boys and a girl, one of whom is disabled, were removed from a Phnom Penh orphanage on Tuesday after its main donor accused its director of physical abuse and sexual misconduct. ...

The U.N. plans to “review” a slew of newly declassified documents that show that judicial police ignored an arrest warrant for Khmer Rouge navy commander and accused war criminal Meas Muth, according to the U.N.’s special expert on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of ...

A woman was arrested on Wednesday in Banteay Meanchey province for allegedly smuggling 12 methamphetamine pills into the provincial prison by slashing open green beans and tucking the pills inside, local police said Thursday. ...

A day after making—and quickly retracting—claims to the media that disgraced Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei had been arrested, national military police spokesman Kheng Tito said Thursday that his comments had been made in jest. ...

At least 16 more families that have been locked in a bitter and lengthy dispute with the municipal government over land in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood accepted municipal governor Pa Socheatvong’s offer of a land swap Thursday morning. ...

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Om Yentieng on Wednesday denied that ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei had been arrested following two days of questioning over serious graft claims, despite two well-placed officials indicating otherwise. ...

About 100 women’s rights activists were prevented from riding tuk-tuks to the National Assembly and the Phnom Penh headquarters of the ruling CPP on Tuesday, but successfully delivered a petition to the opposition CNRP demanding female representation on the reformed National Election Committee. ...

The new chief of the Preah Sihanouk provincial police force Monday vowed to carry out orders to protect and monitor foreigners in the seaside city of Sihanoukville after being officially appointed to the position in a ceremony earlier in the day. ...

The Justice Ministry on Monday said it had completed its investigation into bribery allegations against ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei but refused to reveal the results. ...

National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun on Tuesday called on Phnom Penh’s police forces to increase arrest rates in the city to 75 percent of reported crimes and also asked municipal judges to grant bail less frequently.​ . ...

The former director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, who was ousted last week amid allegations of serious corruption, gave a luxury SUV to his son—a local police official—after it was confiscated from a suspected drug trafficker, the National Police said in a statement Sunday. ...

The ruling CPP, which has long used election-time generosity as a central campaign strategy, proposed a rule that would ban vote-buying on Friday during ongoing bipartisan talks to write a new election law. ...

In the highest-profile sacking since Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to rid the government of corruption after the CPP’s shock losses in the July 2013 election, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s chief judge was removed this week amid claims that millions of dollars had reversed ...