Law and judiciary
Lawmaker defends rejection of human rights proposals
National Assembly spokesman Chheang Vun on Friday defended Cambodia’s decision to reject four human rights proposals and merely take note of another 38 during the adoption of its second universal periodic review report in Geneva on Thursday. In all, Cambodia accepted 163 of the 205 recommendations ...
Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-defends-rejection-of-four-human-rights-proposals-62697/
Judge agrees to delay trial
Greg Thomas Fryett, a British businessman arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit last year for alleged links to a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, went on trial on Friday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/judge-agrees-delay-trial
Mobile network operators ordered to halt free SIM delivery, or face legal punishment
Authority has asked all mobile network operators in Cambodia to stop delivering free Sim Cards without getting a copy of identification card from their clients, warning that they would face legal action if they disobey the order. The warning was made during a meeting on Thursday ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZWE1NmIwNWIzMmN
Villagers shoot slingshots in land dispute battle
A bloody slingshot battle broke out in Kompong Speu province yesterday when villagers who have sold their land to a private company defended the firm’s machinery as it attempted to bulldoze the homes of neighbors who have refused to sell. The dispute, in Thpong district’s Ya ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-shoot-slingshots-in-land-dispute-battle-62582/
National Assembly passes five-year $26.6B spending plan
The single-party National Assembly on Thursday approved the 2014 to 2018 National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), which will cost an estimated $26.58 billion to implement. An extradition agreement between Cambodia and Vietnam was also passed. Approved earlier this month by the Council of Ministers, it is ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-assembly-passes-five-year-26-6b-spending-plan-62578/
Gov’t rejects 4 human rights recommendations
Cambodia on Thursday rejected four recommendations for improving its human rights situation that it initially accepted earlier this year during its second universal periodic review at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. It also “noted” 38 recommendations—meaning it has not committed to implementing them—some relating ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-rejects-4-human-rights-recommendations-62584/
Vendors with a licence to forge
On the side of a well-trafficked street in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, a man with a razor blade bends over a small rectangle of sheet metal overlaid with a vinyl stencil. As letters and numbers are lifted away, the plate begins to take on a ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vendors-licence-forge
Despite jail, village chief retains title
A village chief in Siem Reap who was sentenced on Tuesday to a year in prison for levelling private property to construct an office building will retain his position – at least until his appeal hearing is over, a commune official said yesterday. ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/despite-jail-village-chief-retains-title
Over 250,000 Cambodian migrant workers flee Thailand in fears of junta's crackdown: PM
More than 250,000 Cambodian migrant workers, mostly undocumented, have fled Thailand since early this month in fears of a military junta’s clampdown on illegal foreign workers, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday. “Up to now, over 250,000 Cambodians have crossed the border from Thailand back ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-06/26/c_133439662.htm
Rights groups continue push to stop faulty judicial reform laws
Cambodia’s human rights groups are continuing to seek ways to prevent three draft judicial reform bills from becoming law. The drafts have already passed the National Assembly, but they have not been signed by the king. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rights-groups-continue-push-to-stop-faulty-judicial-reform-laws/1945553.html
Court gives village chief jail sentence
Two men, including a local official, were sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday for clearing privately owned land to construct an office building in Siem Reap nearly two years ago, their lawyer said yesterday. ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-gives-village-chief-jail-sentence
Firm buying Boeng Kak land claims no knowledge of evictions
A Singapore-based firm whose subsidiary plans to buy land in Phnom Penh from which thousands of families have been forcibly evicted said Wednesday that the firm had no knowledge of the long-running land dispute. The firm, HLH Group, also denied any official or financial ties to ...
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firm-buying-boeng-kak-land-claims-no-knowledge-of-evictions-62463/
Torture, beating of detainees continue, report finds
Detainees and prisoners continue to be administered electric shocks, beaten unconscious and even smothered by plastic bags, with 49 new allegations of torture or abuse at the hands of authorities this year, according to rights group Licadho, which says in a report released Wednesday that ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/torture-beating-of-detainees-continue-report-finds-62461/
City hall threatens to revoke parking licenses
Phnom Penh City Hall said Tuesday it would revoke the licenses of companies whose subcontractors are accused of routinely overcharging motorists for parking at some of the city’s markets unless the problem is fixed, according to a news release posted Wednesday on the municipality’s website. “If ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-threatens-to-revoke-companies-parking-licenses-62475/
Fines called for in case against Khmer Krom
An ongoing land dispute may become more than just an embittered ordeal for three Khmer Krom villagers after officials requested yesterday that a Takeo court levy them huge fines. According to representatives from Borei Choslar district’s Sangkum Meanchey village, they are only farming barren land that ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fines-called-case-against-khmer-krom
Commerce minister vows ‘meaningful’ reforms to US investors
Cambodian Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol concluded a trade mission in the United States this week, emphasizing his government’s willingness to make “deep” reforms to improve its investment climate. Cambodia meanwhile needs more foreign investment to create jobs for the 300,000 young Cambodians who enter the ...
Sophat Soeung
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/commerce-minister-vows-meaningful-reforms-to-us-investors/1944607.html
Road fatalities in Cambodia rise to 1,170 in six months
The number of road fatalities in Cambodia has risen to 1,170 so far this year, up 11 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a latest report by the Interior Ministry’s Public Order Department on Wednesday. Some 2,600 cases of road accidents have ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140625/road-fatalities-cambodia-rise-1170-six-months
Thai court agrees to hear lawsuit over controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos
A top court in Thailand agreed on Tuesday to hear a lawsuit brought by villagers against the country’s decision to purchase power from the planned Xayaburi mega dam in neighboring Laos, which green groups say could threaten the region’s environment and food security. Overruling a lower ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/lawsuit-06242014170128.html
Union boss to appeal $25k bail
Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss-appeal-25k-bail
Hun Sen’s sister tied to company in Boeng Kak land sale
A development firm owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and accused of illegally evicting thousands of families from central Phnom Penh recently sold a small piece of its project area for $14.9 million to a company with ties to one of Prime Minister Hun ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-sister-tied-to-company-in-boeng-kak-land-sale-62344/
Cambodia revising gambling laws to attract investment
The Cambodian government is in the process of amending its gaming laws in a bid to draw major casino operators, industry sources have confirmed to GGRAsia. Earlier on Tuesday, the Phnom Penh Post reported that the new draft of the national casino law could be finalised ...
GGRAsia News Staff
http://www.ggrasia.com/cambodia-revising-gambling-laws-to-attract-investment/
Gambling on change
The Cambodian government is drafting a series of changes to the Kingdom’s gaming laws in a bid to draw major players from Macau and the US to the market and potentially create a new tax base from the growing, if currently illegal, online betting industry, ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gambling-change
Reform needed with new appeal courts on the way
As part of a trio of long-awaited judicial laws passed last month by the National Assembly, the country’s judicial system is set to integrate a number of new provincial appeal courts, expanding access to the appeal process to people imprisoned outside Phnom Penh. But the only ...
Lauren Crothers and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reform-needed-with-new-appeal-courts-on-the-way-62217/
For villagers losing land, Hun Sen is last resort
Three separate communities from across the country were in Phnom Penh on Monday to petition Prime Minister Hun Sen to personally intervene to help settle their various land disputes. Communities affected by alleged land grabs in Phnom Penh and beyond often appeal directly to Mr. Hun ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-villagers-losing-land-hun-sen-is-last-resort-62200/