Legal and judicial system

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana has called for all provincial court presidents and prosecutors’ offices to appoint spokespeople to answer questions from the public and the media “as soon as possible,” citing rising interest in the judiciary as the reason. ...

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. ...

Appeal hearings began on Thursday in the case of 11 opposition figures who were convicted in July for insurrection over a 2014 political protest, with a CNRP official blasting the municipal court over double standards for rejecting his request to get medical treatment outside prison. ...

The legal battle of 13 land rights activists from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood ended on Wednesday with the Supreme Court upholding their conviction for aggravated obstruction of public officials and illegal occupation. ...

Two village representatives in Kampong Speu who were detained for protesting against the actions of their provincial authority were released yesterday by the provincial court after Prime Minister Hun Sen sent two of his sons to help deal with the situation. ...

About 65 villagers from Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Srouch district handed out petitions yesterday urging the National Assembly to push the provincial court into releasing two of their leaders.​ ...

Although they remain publicly unnamed, nine businessmen in the timber industry were summoned to appear at the Tbong Khmum provincial court today for alleged deforestation crimes and illegal business dealings, according to officials. ...

A prominent anti-dam activist in Koh Kong province who has been jailed since October was convicted Thursday of illegal logging and given a suspended prison sentence, allowing him to walk free but leaving the shadow of a criminal conviction hanging over him. ...

Opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour, who has been in prison since August on incitement and fraud charges, had his request for bail on health grounds heard by the Supreme Court on Friday. ...

About 500 people gathered outside Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison on Tuesday to demand the release of form­er Capitol Tours bus driver Nan Vanna and la­bor activist Ros Si­phay, who were arrested two weeks ago for participating in a demonstration against the company. ...

More than a month has passed since National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) named the people it suspects of profiting from the trade in illegal timber, but not a single arrest warrant or court summons has been issued since. As perpetrators continue to go unpunished, the illegal ...

The Koh Kong provincial court has delayed issuing a verdict for an environmental activist charged with illegal logging. ...

A former MEC Co. Ltd shareholder was tried in absentia by the Court of Appeals yesterday morning for allegedly defaming his former company and MEC’s chairman, former Cambodian Prime Minister Ung Huot, in 2014, according to a court official. ...

On trial at the Koh Kong Pro­vin­cial Court on Wednesday, anti-dam ac­tivist Ven Vorn denied the illegal logging charge laid against him last year over his involvement in the construction of a wooden community center, his lawyer said. ...

The two Cambodian merchants arrested at Rong Kluea Market during a Thai Department of Special Investigation (DSI) raid that turned violent earlier this month were denied bail on Friday by the Thai Court of Appeals, according to a statement released by the Cambodian Foreign Affairs ...

As parties prepare for Case 002/01 appeal hearings, set to resume on Tuesday, a new report by the Open Society Justice Initiative examines the legacy of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, identifying political interference and insufficient outreach as the court’s primary shortcomings. ...

4 families living in Trear 4 village, Stung Meanchey commune, Mean Chey district, asked the local authority for providing compensation due to lake filling by a private company that caused sewage water and mud logging, also house and other properties damaging. ...

Siem Reap police say they are waiting on an arrest warrant from the National Police before taking steps to locate and apprehend convicted Dutch pedophile Pieter Ceulen, who Siem Reap residents placed in town 11 days ago, the very day he was sentenced in Belgium. ...

Criminal loggers and land snatchers are committing more murders around the world, but they almost always escape justice. ...

The Ministry of Justice will request a salary raise for all of its judges, clerks and prosecutors, and has plans to create mobile court hearings, according to court officials yesterday. They will need the approval of Prime Minister Hun Sen as well as King Norodom ...

National Police and National Military Police have been ordered by the Health Ministry to inspect the licenses of all private ambulances, which are often seen fighting for business at the scene of traffic accidents before charging exorbitant prices for their services. ...

Another arrest warrant has been issued for opposition leader Sam Rainsy—who is living in France to avoid two years in jail for a defamation conviction—after he failed to turn up for questioning about a separate forgery and incitement case last month. ...

In a rare move, the National Police on Monday leveled accusations of illegal logging against a number of government-granted economic land concessions (ELCs) in the eastern province of Mondolkiri, singling out a Chinese-owned rubber plantation and wealthy businessman Soeng Sam Ol. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s request to be questioned remotely by court officials in his latest defamation case cannot be allowed, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said on Sunday. ...