Legal and judicial system
Judiciary and courts
Biofuel case stalls again; British defendant claims extortion
The trial of a British entrepreneur accused of fraud was delayed again at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday, while the defendant alleged he received an offer to buy his freedom for $1 million. ...
Matt Blomberg and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/biofuel-case-stalls-again-british-defendant-claims-extortion-100808/
Going viral in Cambodian cyberspace
Social media is on the rise in Cambodia, and it may just mark the beginning of the end of the systemic culture of judicial impunity, as well as the long-dysfunctional democratic system. ...
Sebastian DuChamp
http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics/going-viral-cambodia-cyberspace/
Cambodia must bridge skills gap: report
Cambodia must work to close the skills gap between its labor force and the domestic job market in order to maintain its economic growth, according to a report released on Monday by the Asian Development Bank and the International Labor Organization. ...
Anthony Jensen
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-must-bridge-skills-gap-report-100518/
Police detain five following slaying of Chinese woman
Authorities have detained five Chinese nationals for questioning following the brutal slaying of a Chinese woman at her apartment in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district on Sunday evening, police said on Monday. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-detain-five-following-slaying-of-chinese-woman-100506/
Soldier in murder case starts serving 2001 robbery sentence
A soldier arrested last week as a suspect in the recent murder of a police officer and a forest ranger in Preah Vihear province has started serving a 10-year prison sentence for a years-old armed robbery conviction. ...
One dead, 1 injured after thwarted gun sale
Police in Tbong Khmum province on Friday shot one man dead and injured another—both suspects in a string of robberies—during a thwarted gun sale, an officer said. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-dead-1-injured-after-thwarted-gun-sale-100355/
Forest patrol murder suspects charged with illegal logging
Six men suspected of involvement in the weekend murder of a local police officer and a forest ranger in Preah Vihear province were charged Wednesday with illegal logging, while authorities continue to search for evidence linking them to the double homicide, a court official said. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forest-patrol-murder-suspects-charged-with-illegal-logging-100060/
Court rejects injunction against Sonando’s party
A court complaint lodged by the vice president of charismatic radio station owner Mam Sonando’s political party seeking its eventual dissolution has been thrown out of court. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-rejects-injunction-against-sonandos-party-100070/
RCAF soldier arrested over murder of officer, Ranger
Authorities in Preah Vihear province on Tuesday arrested a local soldier on suspicion of being involved in the fatal shooting of a police officer and a Forestry Administration ranger on an overnight patrol for illegal loggers early Saturday morning. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rcaf-soldier-arrested-over-murder-of-officer-ranger-99897/
Jailed Unionists in factory dispute released
Two workers from a garment factory in Kompong Speu province who were charged with a slew of crimes following their attempt last month to break away from the only union operating at their factory were released from jail on Friday, a court official and union ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jailed-unionists-in-factory-dispute-released-99777/
Trio holds up gas station, shoots owner, neighbor
Police in Oddar Meanchey province are searching for three armed robbers who made off with about $30,000 in cash on Sunday after holding up a gas station and shooting the owner and her neighbor, a local official said Monday. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/trio-holds-up-gas-station-shoots-owner-neighbor-99771/
Minister vows justice for slain forest rangers
Minister of Environment Say Samal yesterday vowed that those responsible for the murder of two forest rangers shot dead while patrolling a protected forest near Preah Vihear temple Saturday morning will be brought to justice. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17610/minister-vows-justice-for-slain-forest-rangers/
Hun Sen says lawmakers hurled insults before beatings
Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Thursday that the soldiers who violently attacked two CNRP lawmakers last week were only reacting to racial insults, while Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said he would have “used a gun” against the lawmakers. ...
Khuon Narim and Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-lawmakers-hurled-insults-before-beatings-99524/
Jailed senator denied appeal for release on bail
An opposition senator who has been jailed since August has lost an appeal to be released on bail. He will appeal the bail to the Supreme Court, he said. ...
Socheata Hean
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/jailed-senator-denied-appeal-for-release-on-bail/3036894.html
Land representative’s request to stop trial denied by judge
One of two women claiming to represent 163 families that won access to a swath of land in Sen Sok district after a prolonged dispute failed Wednesday to have her breach of trust and forgery charges thrown out of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-representatives-request-to-stop-trial-denied-by-judge-99393/
Court denies bail for opposition senator
The Appeal Court on Wednesday rejected a second request by opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour to overturn a municipal court decision to deny him bail after he was arrested in August for presenting a fake border treaty in a video posted to Facebook. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/appeal-court-denies-bail-for-opposition-senator-hong-sok-hour-99385/
Three men arrested for lawmaker assaults
Three of the men at a pro-CPP protest who beat CNRP lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea last week as they tried to leave the National Assembly turned themselves in Tuesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said. ...
Alex Willemyns and Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-men-arrested-for-lawmaker-assaults-99237/
Nigerians decry immigration raid at church
About 400 parishioners at the Christian Evangelical International Ministry in Phnom Penh were singing hymns when 15 armed police officers rushed through the doors on Saturday and rounded up all of the Nigerian men present, according to Peter Ike, a preacher’s assistant at the church. ...
Sek Odom and Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nigerians-decry-immigration-raid-at-church-99082/
Reporters submit complaint over border skirmish
Four journalists who say they were chased by a machete-wielding man on Friday as they attempted to investigate reports of smuggling across the Chambok border checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province filed a complaint with the provincial court yesterday accusing the man of attempted murder. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reporters-submit-complaint-over-border-skirmish-99076/
Journalists, NGO workers arrested for extortion
Police in Kompong Thom province arrested 11 people—eight who claimed to be journalists and three who said they were environmental NGO directors—on Sunday for extorting money from truck drivers transporting goods in Prasat Balaing district, officials said Monday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/journalists-and-ngo-workers-arrested-for-extortion-in-k-thom-99080/
PM calls for crackdown on gambling
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for a crackdown on gambling during a speech to mark the beginning of the new academic year in Kampot province. ...
Ven Rathavong and Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17380/pm-calls-for-crackdown-on-gambling/
Reporters, police give wildly different accounts of border row
A border official and a reporter gave drastically different accounts Sunday of events that transpired after a group of journalists was blocked as they attempted to visit the Chambok border checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province on Friday. ...
Exhibit remembers slain journalists, calls for end to ‘impunity’
Im Chanthy was seven months pregnant when her husband was killed three years ago, his body stuffed in the trunk of his Toyota Camry. ...
Olivia Harlow
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/exhibit-remembers-slain-journalists-calls-for-end-to-impunity-98964/
Former consul to Vietnam sentenced to 3 years in forgery case
Cambodia’s former deputy consul-general to Ho Chi Minh City, who was arrested last year on suspicion of forging documents to allow luxury-grade wood to be exported into Vietnam, was sentenced to three years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/former-consul-to-vietnam-sentenced-to-3-years-in-forgery-case-98921/