Law and judiciary

In less  than a week, 18-year-old Heng Tina, who has just finished his high-school exam, will take another test that determines whether he’ll get a scholarship to go to technical school, a development that would put him one step closer to his dream of becoming ...

Police and court officials yesterday questioned, charged and imprisoned elderly woman involved in the long-running land dispute at the Borei Keila community in Phnom Penh, a day after an anti-eviction protester from Boeng Kak community met a similar fate. In both cases, police and court officials ...

The Senate yesterday approved a law making way for Cambodians to travel to Qatar for work, an official said. The 52 senators present passed the law unanimously and without amendments, said Oum Sarith, Senate cabinet chief. The agreement lets Cambodians work in the oil-rich emirate’s service ...

The government has taken exception to language used to refer to its plan to amend the Constitution dealing with Cambodia’s borders, saying that the planned “amendment” does not constitute a “change”. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said that he had launched a study to amend ...

A 65-year-old woman who has spent months sleeping under a staircase at Borei Keila yesterday became the second land-rights activist sent to Prey Sar prison in little more than 24 hours. Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating judge Ly Leabmeng questioned villager representative Tim Sakmony for almost ...

Almost 100 members of the sales and service staff of mobile phone provider Hellopoint are awaiting a meeting with the Ministry of Labour after submitting a complaint last month claiming that a policy introduced in July amounted to a breach of their employment contracts. According to ...

As the latest draft of Cambodia’s long-awaited trade-union law sits idly at the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Labour officials have turned to outsiders to help hasten its enactment, a union advocate said yesterday. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, said ...

A Council of Ministers official and her husband who were arrested in July for obstructing a land-titling initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Hun Sen have received bail, Stung Treng Provincial Court prosecutor Chroeng Khmao said Friday. Meas Sokhon, who works at the Council of the Ministers’ ...

A female garment worker died and 24 other workers were injured when the truck in which they were traveling careened into a pond in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district Wednesday morning, police said. More than 30 garment workers were on board a small, open-backed truck in Prek ...

The Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday charged a man with clearing state-owned forestland after he was arrested on Monday along with 13 other villagers, according to provincial prosecutor Ben Sarath. Heoun Sokha was arrested in Kraya commune’s Santuk district after he was found by police clearing ...

When Heng Hak escaped from Phnom Penh maid recruitment center in March 2011, falling several stories in the process, she unwittingly became part of a groundswell-one in a series of mounting cases highlighting severe mismanagment of recruitment agencies, and the abuses incurred by both trainees ...

Five brokers saw their convictions upheld yesterday at Phnom Penh’s Court of Appeal for trafficking 20 Cambodian nationals into Thailand, but legal experts say such convictions for trafficking in Cambodia are still far too rare. While Judge Chan Madyna upheld the men’s 2010 convictions, he shaved ...

A Borei Keila protester received a summons yesterday to come to Phnom Penh Municipal Court to address a complaint of “incitement to commit a crime” filed by Suy Sophan, director of the Phanimex company, which evicted the Borei Keila families in January. Borei Keila resident Tim ...

Global brands Levi’s and Gap had continued slashing orders at the Tai Yang and Camwell factories in Kandal province, costing the company that owns them about US$6 million, its manager claimed yesterday. Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said the brands had reduced their orders from ...

Police in Svay Rieng province said yesterday a Bavet town police officer had been under court-ordered supervision since last week on suspicion of being involved in the February shooting at a garment factory protest in the Special Economic Zone there. Provincial police chief Prach Rim said ...

About 60 farmers met yesterday in Phnom Penh to rise their concerns about the law on the management of farmland that is currently being drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture, which critics say will legalize land grabbing. The latest public version of the draft law grants power ...

The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has charged a local police official with causing “unintentional injuries” during a shooting in February that left three garment factory workers injured in Bavet City, court officials said yesterday. Former Bavet City Governor Chhouk Bundith was charged with the same crime ...

Cambodia’s casino owners need to up the ante on security, the owners of each of the Kingdom’s 61 operating gaming venues were told yesterday at a Phnom Penh meeting called by national police authorities. Lieutenant General Sok Phal, deputy national police commissioner, said that in recent ...

The ancient works of Cambodia’s King Suryavarman II could become a protected intellectual trademark if the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) finalizes a treaty recognizing cultural heritage, the organisation’s head said yesterday. Angkor Wat, a 12th century temple complex and the Kingdom’s No 1 tourist destination, became an area of contention ...

Workers from the Ocean Garment factory, who have been protesting outside the plant in Pur Senchey district for weeks, will file a request with Phnom Penh City Hall today to allow them to continue their demonstrations in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs and ...

A high-ranking army official, his driver and two others were charged with drug trafficking yesterday following a series of arrests over the weekend and a raid that yielded nearly 5kg of methamphetamine. Questioning of the four by prosecutors at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court finished yesterday ...

Interior security officials yesterday called on the casino operators to improve their security following a spate of casino-related crimes and said they would be creating tougher legislation for those who flouted the country’s gambling laws. More than 60 casino owners gathered at the National Police headquarters ...

A lack of proper regulations, unrealistic market data and a constant stream of disputes between Cambodia’s mobile operators will likely hinder the country’s future telecommunications regulator from effectively governing the sector, according to a leading research firm. Without the enactment of telecommunications law, which is currently ...

A mission to examine political rights in Cambodia has been increasingly overshadowed by the Kingdom’s dire land rights situation, the 2012 report from Cambodia’s UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights, published yesterday, shows. Cambodia’s rapporteur, Surya Subedi, conducted two fact-finding missions to Cambodia ...