Law and judiciary

Two of Cambodia’s minor parties yesterday railed against the adoption of amendments to the Law on Political Parties, saying their rapid push through parliament waylaid important legislation and served only the political interests of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

The CNRP is expected today to urge King Norodom Sihamoni to withhold his signature from a set of changes to the Law on Political Parties designed to sideline opposition figure Sam Rainsy. ...

Police tackled 615 forestry and wildlife crimes in the first half of the year, with 376 cases ending up in court and the remaining 239 leading to administrative fines. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen donated $10,000 to Kem Ley’s family yesterday to help with the costs of a ceremony commemorating the one-year anniversary of the murdered political analyst’s assassination. ...

The Senate, as predicted, passed contentious changes to the Law on Political Parties yesterday in a bid to erase – in some cases literally – opposition figure Sam Rainsy from Cambodia’s political scene. ...

Police destroyed more than 60,000 marijuana plants spread across 3 hectares of land in a well-known Takeo province hotspot for growing the illegal crop, officials said on Tuesday. ...

Thai police have arrested a fourth suspect in the weapons smuggling case linked to a Cambodian immigration officer, according to Thai media, while a senior Cambodian Defence Ministry official said yesterday that any suggestions that the weapons came from Cambodia’s military arsenal had been ruled ...

Thirty-one Chinese nationals were arrested in three districts of Phnom Penh on Monday in the latest police crackdown on alleged fraudsters accused of operating a scam using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), according to a police report supplied by an immigration official. ...

The Ministry of Interior has set up a working group to oversee the elimination of illegal checkpoints along national roads and on waterways. According to a statement penned by Interior Minister Sar Kheng last Wednesday and obtained yesterday, the working group is comprised of eight ...

Police in Phnom Penh will next month start issuing fines of up to $25 for violations of parking regulations by using handheld devices that scan license plates and recognize the registered identity and address of a vehicle’s owner, an official said yesterday. ...

The Interior Ministry’s Central Security Department yesterday announced two hotlines for the public to report possible kidnappings after a spike in Facebook comments about parents losing their children. According to a statement issued yesterday, the purpose of the hotlines is to assist authorities with locating ...

Police in Oddar Meanchey province have reprimanded six Thais caught fishing illegally in Samrong town. Kon Kriel commune police chief Path Kim said the six men were educated and released. ...

The Mondolkiri Provincial Court this morning sentenced Dutch man Stefan Struik, 53, to two years in prison for helping his Vietnamese boyfriend, Nguyen Thanh Dung, 34, flee the country after videos of Mr. Nguyen torturing a 2-year-old Cambodian boy were posted on Facebook. ...

The Mondulkiri Provincial Court and mines and energy officials said they are investigating illegal sand exports to Vietnam following the questioning of four people who were intercepted yesterday by authorities driving truckloads of sand toward the eastern border. ...

A large rock smashed through the side window of a car that had just dropped off members of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice in Kandal province on Tuesday night, the group’s leader But Buntenh said on Wednesday. ...

While highly contentious new rules were being passed in the National Assembly on Monday banning the CNRP from collaborating with its former leader Sam Rainsy, photographs were posted to Facebook of senior opposition lawmakers dining at a riverside hotel in Kampot province. ...

A draft United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report released at a workshop on Monday praises efforts to crack down on sexual abuse of children but calls for measures to curb child pornography.​​ ...

A court investigation into illegal timber trafficking has targeted 11 provincial officials—including Mondolkiri’s heads of the military and military police, and potentially a court prosecutor—prompting the case’s transfer to Phnom Penh at the request of the justice minister, officials said on Tuesday. ...

Surveillance cameras set up throughout the capital will be synchronized and monitored nonstop from a central control room as part of a coordinated crimewatch effort between City Hall and the National Police, officials said on Tuesday. ...

A NEW international law firm is preparing to set up shop to provide foreign citizenship or residency services to Cambodia’s wealthy elite by helping to facilitate large overseas investments as well as business expansion plans. ...

Operations against human trafficking networks increased by a whopping 127 percent compared to the same period in 2016, according to a six-month report released yesterday by the National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT). ...

The Cambodian embassy in Malaysia has repatriated 14 Cambodian fishermen who fled a Thai boat and are believed to be human trafficking victims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.​​ ...

Child sex tourism is continuing to damage the lives of young Cambodians, while the internet is enabling perpetrators to carry out abuse, the Justice Minister has warned.​ ...

The National Assembly approved a draft law yesterday that will guarantee the state’s purchase of electricity from two large-scale private energy projects, protecting the investments against any loss resulting from political instability. ...