Law and judiciary
Legal framework
Security guards testify against ‘insurrectionists’ for first time
The trial of 11 men arrested on insurrection charges after an anti-government protest turned into a brawl in 2014, continued Tuesday, with four of the security guards who were allegedly beaten giving testimony for the first time. ...
Ouch Sony and Matt Blomberg
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/security-guards-testify-against-insurrectionists-for-first-time-88333/
Alcohol law to go to council of ministers by week’s end
A draft of Cambodia’s first alcohol law—which if passed would introduce a drinking age of 21 and ban the sale of alcohol between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m.—will be sent to the Council of Ministers by the end of the week, Health Minister Mam Bunheng ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/alcohol-law-to-go-to-council-of-ministers-by-weeks-end-88344/
Prominent rights monitor questioned over defamation claims
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday began questioning a leading human rights campaigner who stands accused of defaming and attempting to coerce two judicial officials over a land dispute in Siem Reap province. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prominent-rights-monitor-questioned-over-defamation-claims-88153/
Owner of meth den is Interior ministry official
Authorities are searching for an Interior Ministry official who owns a three-story video arcade in Phnom Penh that was used as a drug den before police raided the establishment over the weekend and arrested dozens of people, an official said Monday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/owner-of-meth-den-is-interior-ministry-official-88158/
Police seek grave smashers after video goes viral
Police in Kandal province are seeking to arrest three men after footage emerged last week of them running through a Vietnamese graveyard in Sa’ang district damaging headstones. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-seek-grave-smashers-after-video-goes-viral-88168/
Unlicensed dentist flees after robbing, killing patient
Police are searching for a 26-year-old unlicensed dentist in Tbong Khmum province who is believed to have used a rope to strangle a patient to death at his clinic in order to steal her jewelry and motorbike, along with about $3,000 in cash, an official ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unlicensed-dentist-flees-after-robbing-killing-patient-88146/
Four convicted over attempt to send brides to China
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. ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/four-convicted-over-attempt-to-send-brides-to-china-88170/
CPP passes NGO law amid opposition boycott
The CPP’s 68 lawmakers pushed a controversial NGO law through the National Assembly on Monday morning without debate and without the opposition CNRP, whose 55 members boycotted the session in protest over legislation they say the government could use to stifle dissent. ...
Kuch Naren and Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-passes-ngo-law-amid-opposition-boycott-2-88148/
Sovannara questioning signals end to court case
Opposition spokesman Meach Sovannara returned to Cambodia from Thailand yesterday to appear in court regarding an insurrection charge he received at Naga Bridge last July. ...
Va Sonyka and Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13293/sovannara-questioning-signals-end-to-court-case/
Dozens arrested in separate drug busts at arcade, internet cafe
In separate cases over the weekend, police and military police arrested dozens of people caught smoking crystal methamphetamine at a video arcade in Phnom Penh and an Internet cafe in Siem Reap City, according to officials, who said the venues had been converted into drug ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/dozens-arrested-in-separate-drug-busts-at-arcade-internet-cafe-87984/
Authorities to deport convicted British pedophile by week’s end
A British national and convicted pedophile, who served about three quarters of his two-year sentence for child sex abuse, will be deported to the U.K. by the end of the week, an immigration official said Sunday. ...
Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/authorities-to-deport-convicted-british-pedophile-by-weeks-end-87986/
Convicted ‘terrorist’ pardoned at PM’s request
King Norodom Sihamoni granted a royal pardon to convicted terrorist plotter Sourn Serey Ratha last week, just days before the self-exile was planning to take the final step in turning his dissident group into a bona fide political party. ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/convicted-terrorist-pardoned-at-pms-request-87978/
Police, soldiers, military complete good men march
Capping a week in which footage emerged of a tycoon viciously beating a female entertainer and a man entering a Phnom Penh school to slap a teenage girl, some 160 security personnel marched down the riverside here on Friday chanting slogans to conclude the “Good ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-soldiers-military-complete-good-men-march-87963/
Police thwart gang fight during round-up
After receiving numerous complaints about violence and robberies outside a nightclub in Battambang City, police Thursday rounded up 25 suspected criminals, claiming to have prevented an imminent gang brawl. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-thwart-gang-fight-during-round-up-87806/
Koreans deny running internet phone scam
A group of 10 South Korean nationals accused of operating an Internet phone scam in Phnom Penh denied the charges during their trial Thursday at the municipal court. ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/koreans-deny-running-internet-phone-scam-87815/
During trial of eight, Nigerian admits to moving crystal meth
A Nigerian man charged with drug trafficking Wednesday admitted in court to transporting crystal methamphetamine in Phnom Penh last year, but claimed he had merely been a hired hand. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/during-trial-of-eight-nigerian-admits-to-moving-crystal-meth-87658/
Opposition walks out of NGO law workshop
CPP lawmakers and officials continued to defend their controversial draft of a proposed law aiming to regulate the country’s non-government groups at a workshop at the National Assembly on Wednesday, despite a boycott from some NGOs and the opposition, which dismissed the event as “rubbish.” ...
Kuch Naren and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-walks-out-of-ngo-law-workshop-87637/
Prosecutor disputes verdict in murder-kidnapping case
In a rare show of discord inside the courts, a prosecutor at the Kandal Provincial Court on Tuesday lodged an appeal against verdicts handed down to two men involved in a kidnapping and murder. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prosecutor-disputes-verdict-in-murder-kidnapping-case-87535/
Activists charged over Siem Reap tour-boat brawl
Two opposition CNRP activists were arrested Monday and charged with inciting a brawl in Siem Reap province last month during which a man suffered a serious stab wound, police said. ...
Mech Dara and Aun Chhengpor
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activists-charged-over-siem-reap-tour-boat-brawl-87443/
Police ignored another arrest warrant for Meas Muth
A second arrest warrant for former Khmer Rouge navy commander Meas Muth was ignored by judicial police last month, a declassified document released Monday by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia shows. ...
George Wright and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-ignored-another-arrest-warrant-for-meas-muth-87422/
NGO director went to VN border to see incursions
Phen Bunthoeun, the NGO director who was arrested and detained overnight by Vietnamese authorities for leading about 40 students to visit a disputed border area in Svay Rieng province on Saturday, admitted Monday that he had gone there to inspect alleged border violations. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-director-went-to-vn-border-to-see-incursions-87435/
NGO director arrested by Vietnamese authorities
A Cambodian NGO director who on Saturday took about 40 of his primary- and high-school students on a trip to a disputed border area in Svay Rieng province was beaten by Vietnamese civilians and imprisoned overnight, officials said Sunday. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-director-arrested-by-vietnamese-authorities-87341/
Vietnam seizes ivory that passed through Cambodia
Police in southern Vietnam seized 387 kilograms of elephant tusks last week after the ivory passed through the Prek Chak international border checkpoint in Kampot province, the state-run Viet Nam News newspaper reported Friday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vietnam-seizes-ivory-that-passed-through-cambodia-87355/
Dey Krahom leader acquitted of defamation, forgery
Chan Vichet, a representative of the former Dey Krahorm community, whose homes were bulldozed in 2009 to make way for development in Phnom Penh, was acquitted on Friday of defamation and forgery charges brought against him in 2005 by fellow evictees. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/dey-krahom-leader-acquitted-of-defamation-forgery-87336/