Law and judiciary
Legal and judicial system
Villager rep held over burning firm’s timber
A representative for villagers living in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district who say that buyers from a local company failed to uphold a 2007 land deal has been charged and temporarily detained by local authorities for allegedly destroying private property. Haing Noeur, 50, was detained on Saturday after ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villager-rep-held-over-burning-firm%E2%80%99s-timber
Union representatives file complaint against leaders over pilfering
Two union organizers have filed a complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court claiming that the senior leaders of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) have embezzled money that was meant to be paid to workers in compensation following a dispute with ...
No mention of party affiliation in code for judges
A new draft law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors does not prohibit the judiciary from affiliation with political parties and allows Supreme Court judges and prosecutors to work beyond the mandatory retirement age of 60, when all other judges will be expected to ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-mention-of-party-affiliation-in-code-for-judges-54183/
Workers’ strike delayed, rescheduled for post-Khmer New Year
Labor unions and associations have suspended their strike plan scheduled for March 12 following the request by garment workers, according to a union leader. The suspension came after the meeting between the union leaders from a coalition of 18 labor unions and associations today. The unionists ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NmU5MTVjY2ExZTQ
Borei Keila suit filed
Seven people from the capital’s Borei Keila community allegedly injured by baton-wielding security forces last month, a pregnant woman among them, filed a lawsuit against Prampi Makara district authorities yesterday. The seven were among a group of dozens of families violently removed from a building on ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/borei-keila-suit-filed
New look at Vichea murder
Phnom Penh Municipal Court has reopened an investigation into the high-profile slaying of union leader Chea Vichea in 2004, a court official said yesterday. Prosecutor Sok Roeun said the court’s head prosecutor began reinvestigating the case early last month in response to an order from the ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-look-vichea-murder
Vietnamese charged with illegal logging
The Mondolkiri Provincial Court on Tuesday charged 15 Vietnamese nationals with illegally crossing the border and logging protected forest, four days after the group was detained by members of the ethnic Bunong minority in a community forest 20 km from the border. Ya Narin, director of ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vietnamese-charged-with-illegal-logging-53975/
Judicial draft laws still unseen: rights groups
Two civil society organisations are calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen to publish three long-gestating draft laws on judicial reform to allow ample time for “genuine, inclusive and meaningful participation in the drafting process”. Hun Sen said in a speech last Wednesday that the three laws ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/judicial-draft-laws-still-unseen-rights-groups
Villagers charged with illegally clearing land
The Kratie Provincial Court on Sunday charged three villagers with illegally clearing community forest, and six more for clearing state-owned land, officials said Monday. The three people were arrested in Snoul district’s Khyoem commune and accused of clearing protected forest while the other six were arrested ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-charged-with-illegally-clearing-land-53859/
Protest ban firmly in place on Women’s Day
Freedom Park was placed under lockdown and a march by land rights activists was blocked Saturday morning as Phnom Penh’s security officials were out in force to ensure that peaceful rallies on International Women’s Day could not go as planned. Prime Minister Hun Sen on February ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-ban-firmly-in-place-on-womens-day-53745/
Municipal Court calls 10 witnesses in racist mob killing case
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has summoned 10 witnesses, including several police officials and one reporter, as it begins investigating the brutal murder of Nguyen Vann Chean, an ethnic Vietnamese man who was beaten to death by an angry mob in Meanchey district last month. The ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/municipal-court-calls-10-witnesses-in-racist-mob-killing-case-53754/
Borei Keila firm told to pay $2.7 million
Suy Sophan, the owner of development firm Phan Imex, has been ordered to repay $2.7 million to a Korean company over an uncompleted sale of land at Borei Keila, from where hundreds have been violently evicted, a court document reveals. In a decision handed down in ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/borei-keila-firm-told-pay-27-million
Judicial reform drafts to move forward in March
Three judicial reform draft laws will be submitted to the Council of Ministers last this month, justice officials said Wednesday. The draft laws deal with the functions of the courts and the conduct of judges and prosecutors, as well as an oversight body called the Supreme ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/judicial-reform-drafts-to-move-forward-in-march/1864692.html
UN Envoy Cautious Over Cambodian Political Settlement Prospects
A U.N. rights envoy to Cambodia on Wednesday expressed “cautious optimism” that the parties of Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy would move toward ending their seven-month political deadlock following an agreement achieved this week between the two sides on a set ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/surya-subedi-03062014183612.html
Low ranking for rule of law
The World Justice Project yesterday ranked Cambodia 91st out of 99 nations and at the bottom of the barrel regionally in terms of its devotion to the rule of law, despite its midlevel performance in terms of providing order and security. In its annual Rule of ...
Stuart White and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/low-ranking-rule-law
Boeung Kak protester trio detained, released
In yet another case of district security guards assuming the role of police officers, three evictees of the capital’s Boeung Kak lake area were detained in the capital yesterday morning and taken to a police station. Daun Penh district security guards seized Em Srey Touch, 41, ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boeung-kak-protester-trio-detained-released
Economic police officers charged for taking payment
Two Phnom Penh economic police officers were charged with misappropriation of public funds Tuesday by the municipal court and placed in pretrial detention at Prey Sar prison, according to court staff. Theng Ramy, a clerk for the court’s prosecution office, identified the charged officers as Sok ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/economic-police-officers-charged-for-taking-payment-53534/
‘Like animals in a cage’
A day after union leader Vorn Pov was violently arrested during garment strikes in early January, he was driven to an unknown location and told by armed officers to get out of the vehicle. The union leader said his group of co-accused share a cell ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98-animals-cage%E2%80%99
Daun Penh guards seize protest drum, scuffle with activists
Two political activists were injured by district security guards outside the Daun Penh district office Monday morning after a protest to free 21 protesters beaten and imprisoned during a strike in January turned into an effort to reclaim a confiscated protest drum. The protesters, dressed in ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/daun-penh-guards
Three convicted over clash with police on Monivong Bridge
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday sentenced three men of six suspects to prison terms for their role in the September 15 clashes on Monivong Bridge between police and stone throwing youths, during which a man was killed and several were wounded by police ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-convicted-over-clash-with-police-on-monivong-bridge-53388/
Verdict due today for Kbal Thnal six
A Phnom Penh municipal judge is expected to announce a verdict this morning for six people arrested in connection with a September clash at the Kbal Thnal overpass, a week after the verdict was originally expected. Authorities took the six men into custody at the overpass ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/verdict-due-today-kbal-thnal-six
Villagers in land dispute are summoned, but not questioned
Five Kompong Chhnang villagers locked in a land dispute with a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem, who had repeatedly tried—and failed—to file a complaint with their provincial court, were summoned for questioning at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-land-dispute-are-summoned-but-not-questioned-53334/
Hun Sen suit ‘needs evidence’
A prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has urged a youth organiser to provide the court with more evidence in his lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen, promising to hear the case if ample proof is brought. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen-suit-%E2%80%98needs-evidence%E2%80%99
A year after trial, still free
One year ago today, ex-Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith smiled as he sat before a judge at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh on the first day of his trial for shooting and badly injuring three unarmed garment workers at a protest in Prey Veng ...
May Titthara and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/year-after-trial-still-free