Law and judiciary

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged two protesters involved in a bloody scuffle that left scores injured over the weekend, while another four prominent unionists were also charged in a significant expansion of the controversial case. ...

4 families living in Trear 4 village, Stung Meanchey commune, Mean Chey district, asked the local authority for providing compensation due to lake filling by a private company that caused sewage water and mud logging, also house and other properties damaging. ...

A Spanish man who is the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a fellow Spaniard was arrested in Cambodia, where he is believed to have fled after the victim’s dismembered body was recovered piece by piece from Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, police said Monday. ...

A government sub-decree dated February 3 defined 3,200 hectares of Tamoak Lake as state-owned land, sparking eviction fears among residents. ...

A bloody scuffle in Phnom Penh on Saturday left scores injured after protesting bus drivers and their supporters were brutally set upon by a rival association armed with sticks, metal bars and hammers. ...

After a seven-year struggle, a Banteay Meanchey teacher finally got $8,000 in compensation for her land, which was seized by the Cambodian military during a border flare-up with Thailand. ...

For the third time in as many months, the government has canceled a contract with a private com­pany operating a toll road in re­sponse to complaints from motorists.   ...

The Appeal Court on Thursday upheld convictions of intentional violence and causing property damage against 13 unionists and workers who were arrested during a riot outside a Phnom Penh industrial park on January 3, 2014, at which military police shot dead at least five people. ...

Police working with Ministry of Post and Telecommunications officials yesterday arrested more than 20 South Korean nationals allegedly running an illegal telecom operation, an officer said yesterday, though an embassy representative said the bust related to online gambling.   ...

Officials are attempting to se­cure the release of two Cambo­dian men who were sentenced to three months in a Thai prison on Thursday after being summarily convicted of at­tacking government inspectors at a market in Sa Kaeo province the day before, ac­cording to the Ministry ...

A draft construction law has been completed, will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers and may be enacted by the middle of the year, Sok Siphana, a senior advisor to the government, told Khmer Times yesterday.   ...

A former Mondulkiri provincial military police officer, Sou Marith, fired on authorities who had chased a car carrying timber to his home, but managed to make good his escape in the hours it took authorities to procure an arrest warrant, local authorities said. ...

The number of workers killed and injured by traffic accidents nearly doubled in 2015, according to a report released by the National Social Security Fund yesterday. ...

A former Mondulkiri provincial military police officer, Sou Marith, fired on authorities who had chased a car carrying timber to his home, but managed to make good his escape in the hours it took authorities to procure an arrest warrant, local authorities said. ...

Prosecutors in Kompong Speu province have ordered police to reinvestigate the demise of a newspaper reporter who was reportedly bludgeoned to death by an angry mob on Sunday, while the victim’s family and employer cast doubt on the official version of events. ...

Siem Reap police say they are waiting on an arrest warrant from the National Police before taking steps to locate and apprehend convicted Dutch pedophile Pieter Ceulen, who Siem Reap residents placed in town 11 days ago, the very day he was sentenced in Belgium. ...

Criminal loggers and land snatchers are committing more murders around the world, but they almost always escape justice. ...

Transperancy International Cambodia yesterday called on the authorities to fulfill their commitment to the introduction of a whistleblower law, saying it would be key in protecting those who otherwise might not call out corruption. ...

The Free Trade Union has sent a letter to police seeking the release of two union officials arrested on Tuesday over protests at the Cerie garment factory in Kampong Speu province. ...

More than 220 ethnic Tompuon families in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district yesterday filed a complaint to rights group Adhoc over a 2,000-hectare land dispute against an economic land concession.   ...

The parent company of U.S. apparel giant Timberland has launched an investigation into claims that security guards at a special economic zone in Kandal province viciously attacked the workers that make the brand’s clothing and footwear, a company representative said Wednesday. ...

National Assembly President Heng Samrin has refused to forward to Prime Minister Hun Sen a letter from an opposition lawmaker asking that a group of rubber plantations owned by Vietnamese Ar­my commanders be canceled because they violate the Constitution. ...

Cambodia’s “Economic Free­dom”—a broad measure of how well individuals and businesses can create and protect their wealth —was classed as “mostly unfree” in a new report released by the Washington-based Heritage Foun­dation, which identified corruption and bureaucracy as impediments to free markets. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has thrown out a defamation case against Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong that was filed by Khmer Power Party (KPP) President Sourn Serey Ratha in December after Mr. Namhong called the politician’s supporters terrorists. ...