Law and judiciary

Three men have turned themselves into Cambodian police, claiming they were involved in the beatings of two opposition lawmakers last week.The Ministry of Interior announced late Tuesday Chay Sarith, Mao Hoeurn, and Suth Vanny had turned themselves in earlier in the day. But little more ...

Rights group launches justice campaign for murdered journalists on second UN-backed International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. ...

About 400 parishioners at the Christian Evangelical International Ministry in Phnom Penh were singing hymns when 15 armed police officers rushed through the doors on Saturday and rounded up all of the Nigerian men present, according to Peter Ike, a preacher’s assistant at the church. ...

Four journalists who say they were chased by a machete-wielding man on Friday as they attempted to investigate reports of smuggling across the Chambok border checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province filed a complaint with the provincial court yesterday accusing the man of attempted murder. ...

Jailed Sam Rainsy Party Senator Hong Sok Hour’s bail hearing has been set for Wednesday, with his lawyers saying that they have deposited 10 million riel (about $2,500) in anticipation of a potentially favourable outcome. ...

More than 400 truck owners and drivers gathered in Phnom Penh on Monday to ask Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet to help them secure tax breaks and keep driving their illegal right-hand-drive vehicles, but were turned away and asked to come back with more documentation. ...

Police in Kompong Thom province arrested 11 people—eight who claimed to be journalists and three who said they were environmental NGO directors—on Sunday for extorting money from truck drivers transporting goods in Prasat Balaing district, officials said Monday. ...

Drivers on Cambodia’s chaotic streets are often quick to criticize the traffic police, who seem unable to bring things under control. However, the drivers themselves forget that poor driving and the ignoring of traffic laws lead to so many snarls. ...

Cambodia’s opposition party has called on the government to expedite a “dragging” investigation into a violent attack on two of its lawmakers and urged the United Nations to join the probe after the international body expressed concern over the assault. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for a crackdown on gambling during a speech to mark the beginning of the new academic year in Kampot province. ...

A border official and a reporter gave drastically different accounts Sunday of events that transpired after a group of journalists was blocked as they attempted to visit the Chambok border checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province on Friday. ...

Im Chanthy was seven months pregnant when her husband was killed three years ago, his body stuffed in the trunk of his Toyota Camry. ...

A Trapaing Thlong prison officer in Kampong Cham was last week accused of demanding $150 to release a prisoner who had fully served his 10-year term, a charge the prison’s director rejected yesterday. ...

The university graduate arrested for threatening the life of Interior Minister Sar Kheng was released from Siem Reap Provincial Prison on Friday after being handed a reduced sentence by the provincial court, police said yesterday. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced a former consular official with the Foreign Ministry to three years in prison for signing false government documents to facilitate the sale of millions of dollars’ worth of luxury timber to Vietnam when he was stationed in Ho ...

Cambodia’s former deputy consul-general to Ho Chi Minh City, who was arrested last year on suspicion of forging documents to allow luxury-grade wood to be exported into Vietnam, was sentenced to three years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday. ...

The mob that beat up two Cambodian opposition lawmakers outside the National Assembly building in Phnom Penh early this week included about 200 young men from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s corps of bodyguards who were driven in trucks to the protest and later boasted about ...

Despite a massive 300 percent increase in its budget next year to prepare for looming elections, the National Election Committee (NEC) says it has barely half the money it needs to do its job and is looking for overseas aid for resources to help. ...

A British man detained for more than two years in Prey Sar prison on charges of massive fraud has been accused of obstructing his own trial after one of his lawyers dropped the case. In an email yesterday, defendant Greg Fryett pushed back against these ...

Authorities in Ratanakkiri prov­ince said they confiscated a vanful of illegal luxury-grade timber on Wednesday after a van driver crashed into a motorbike on his way to the Vietnamese border with the wood, but let the driver go because he was injured. ...

The high-profile trial of a British entrepreneur charged with fraud was postponed Wednesday after his lawyer cited a conflict of interest and withdrew from the long-running case, two days after a member of the European Parliament used the case to highlight “systematic problems” in Cambodia’s ...

A British pedophile who was arrested at the behest of the British Embassy two weeks ago was deported Wednesday evening, an immigration official said Wednesday. ...

Representatives of the private sector and rights groups met yesterday at a forum on business and human rights to discuss how Cambodia’s growing industry can protect the rights of its workers. ...

Dozens of military police were deployed in Phnom Penh on Wednesday as about 80 truck drivers rallied outside the General Department of Cus­toms and Excise demanding tax breaks and for right-hand drive vehicles to be legalized, an official said. ...