Law and judiciary

A group of 31 villagers of the Phnong ethnic minority have filed a petition to Mondulkiri provincial authorities to demand the removal of the local environment department director after rangers allegedly torched their homes during a wedding in Sen Monorom district. ...

The Council of Ministers approved a draft law last week regulating and controlling organ donations and transplants in response to a World Health Organization (WHO) report which revealed that the lives of patients with non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes could be further endangered following ...

An Interior Ministry official who fatally shot a Phnom Penh village chief, his son and grandson during a bloodbath provoked by a petty financial dispute pleaded self-defense during his trial on Wednesday.   ...

The investigation and trial following the brutal attack on two opposition lawmakers by members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit last year has all the hallmarks of a “blatant cover-up,” according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday. ...

Cambodia’s new Traffic Law has been a runaway success for road safety, Interior Minister Sar Kheng claimed yesterday, hours after a collision between two trucks carrying garment workers left two dead and nearly 60 injured.   ...

In what appears to be part of a wider push to cut down on smoking in the Kingdom, cigarette companies will have to publish pictorial and text warnings that take up 55 percent of each packet by the end of July, according to the Ministry ...

A draft construction law has been completed and will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers and may be enacted by the end of the year, but there needs to be a discussion and more feedback before sending it to the government to be ...

A Ministry of Defence staffer with the rank of major was arrested on Tuesday, allegedly while dealing drugs in Battambang’s Kamrieng district. ...

Five of the 11 members of the Boeung Kak lake community who were beaten by police while peacefully protesting at Wat Phnom in 2013 and later filed a lawsuit against district officials were called to testify at the Ministry of Interior yesterday. ...

An opposition official in Kampot was arrested yesterday evening over his involvement in collecting thumbprints for a Royal petition calling for the release of detained human rights officials and politicians in the Kingdom. ...

Police who shut down a gathering of 30 people in a private home in Prey Veng province yesterday justified the action by saying the organisers had failed to notify the district governor in writing beforehand. ...

People smoking tobacco in offices, restaurants and other public spaces will have to indulge their habit in clearly demarcated smoking areas or both the smoker and establishment owner will face fines, the Ministry of Health announced. ...

A military officer convicted of fraud and sentenced to one year in prison in October is still em­ployed by the National Defense Uni­versity (NDU), the school con­firmed this week, despite the fact that the officer’s co-conspirator is now behind bars.   ...

As yet another deadline passed, right-hand drive vehicle owners will now have until June 12 to register their vehicles with the Ministry of Transport and Public Works or run the risk of being on the wrong side of the law, according to a ministry statement ...

The owner of a luxury timber shop in Phnom Penh was fined 64.189 million riel (about $16,047) in absentia yesterday after being convicted of transporting, trading and stocking timber without authorization from the Forest Administration, according to court officials.     ...

All beaches in Sihanoukville must be fully open to public access, including the currently guest-only beach in front of the Sokha Beach Resort, the National Committee for Cambodia Bay Management and Development decided at a meeting on Monday.   ...

Experts warn that soaring population, vehicle use, condominium construction, minimal enforcement of parking and vehicle tax laws and lackluster public transit options could spell decades of gridlock if action is not taken soon. ...

Cambodia’s ambassador to Australia was told by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday to respond to allegations that he and his staff have been illegally selling large quantities of tax-exempt alcohol and tobacco to a store in Melbourne.   ...

Cambodia and Vietnam’s security ministries signed a cooperation agreement yesterday to fight crime and strengthen security between the two neighbors. ...

The potential for color to serve as a rallying point for a political insurrection has not been lost on Prime Minister Hun Sen over the years, with the premier repeatedly inveighing against Eastern European-style “color revolutions.” ...

Two convicted Cambodian-American fraudsters were named among five shareholders, including Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, in a shadowy offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands in the latest trove of “Panama Papers,” which were released on Tuesday.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed a sub-decree to mark 18 protected areas over nearly three million hectares of land across Prey Lang forest, according to a Ministry of Environment statement released yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday retracted an order to use all illegally logged wood seized by the government to build schools and housing for teachers, arguing that they would struggle to carry the wood out of the forest.   ...

Cambodia’s ambassador to Australia yesterday swiftly denied allegations of corruption amid reports the embassy is under investigation for links to an alleged alcohol and tobacco black market that took in roughly $200,000.   ...