Legal and judicial system

In a rare move, the National Police on Monday leveled accusations of illegal logging against a number of government-granted economic land concessions (ELCs) in the eastern province of Mondolkiri, singling out a Chinese-owned rubber plantation and wealthy businessman Soeng Sam Ol. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s request to be questioned remotely by court officials in his latest defamation case cannot be allowed, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said on Sunday. ...

Government officials said the country’s Labor Court will be established in early 2017 while relevant officials study the technicalities of the court and get information as well as expertise from similar courts in other countries. Of all potential stakeholders, unions say they are the most ...

After more than a week traveling along remote forest trails in eastern Mondolkiri province, police and forestry officials transporting 30 large pieces of valuable timber seized from Vietnamese loggers earlier this month are expected to reach the end of their 120-km journey today, an official ...

As the new helmet laws go into effect on January first, with higher fines for not wearing one and a new requirement that motorcycle passengers also be helmeted, there is a push to publicize the dangers of riding without one. ...

Sourn Serey Ratha, president of the nascent Khmer Power Party (KPP), on Monday filed a defamation and incitement lawsuit against Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, following through on a threat he made last week. ...

In the wake of a crime spree that drew a public expression of concern from Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this month, Justice Min­ister Ang Vong Vathana met with senior prosecutors from Phnom Penh and all 24 provinces on Fri­day and ordered them to ex­pedite ...

A third man died of gunshot wounds in Phnom Penh Wednesday night after an Interior Ministry official gunned down a village chief and his relatives when a neighborhood dispute escalated earlier in the day, police said on Thursday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s first state visit to Thailand today and tomorrow will be a milestone in enhancing previously frayed diplomatic relations with Cambodia’s largest neighbor and will also pay off economically, diplomats, executives and analysts say. ...

With the return of the Cambodia National Rescue Party to the National Assembly this week, following a boycott that began in November, analysts say there is a chance some of the party’s activists could be released from jail. ...

A seemingly minor dispute between an Interior Ministry official and a village chief in Phnom Penh turned deadly when the official gunned down the village chief and his relative on Wednesday afternoon, according to police, who offered wildly different reports of the shooting. ...

Military police in Phnom Penh on Wednesday arrested a seventh suspect in the kidnapping of three Chinese men freed on Monday from their captors, who had detained them for two months in a bid to make them pay back loans with the help of their ...

A private English tutor in Battambang province has confessed to repeatedly molesting multiple female students as young as 6, following his arrest at the home of one of the girls on Tuesday, an official said on Wednesday. ...

A senior human rights monitor in Banteay Meanchey province was questioned on Wednesday by the provincial court over a street protest that took place on Monday, but his organization, Adhoc, is claiming that the court breached judicial procedure in getting him there. ...

The environmental NGO at the center of an extortion scandal in Siem Reap province has a track record of using its employees as racketeers in order to enrich itself, according to officials who have previously dealt with the organization. ...

Empathy and forgiveness should be at the heart of efforts to heal the wounds of Cambodia’s tragic history, according to academics attending a recent symposium. Kosal of Brooklyn College added that the tribunal might not be an effective mechanism to achieve reconciliation and healing for ...

A protest leader was arrested during a demonstration on Monday morning outside Banteay Meanchey provincial police headquarters in Poipet City because authorities said the group of about 40 people did not have permission to protest. ...

An official at the Ministry of Justice says he hopes a new law on information access will help improve the country’s attitude toward its judiciary, which is widely seen as politically biased and corrupt. ...

For many Cambodian victims of sexual assault, justice can be hard to find. Not only can it be difficult culturally to report rape and other crimes, but police and the courts are not necessarily well trained to deal with sensitive crimes. Add to that judicial ...

When the Battambang Provincial Court last week handed down a 25-year prison sentence to Yem Chrin, an unlicensed medic blamed for spreading HIV to more than 280 residents of rural Roka commune, it likely failed to consider relevant medical evidence, according to interviews with doctors ...

A lawyer for CNRP lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea, who were severely beaten on October 26 in front of the National Assembly, filed a new complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday asking that those arrested for the crime be charged with ...

Dozens of activist monks rallied on Sunday at Wat Stung Meanchey to protest the pagoda’s decision to defrock a fellow monk for allegedly throwing Buddha statues into a dirty pond, claiming that he was framed because he is Khmer Krom and is known for supporting ...

When 112 families gathered to demonstrate for four hours in front of the Ratanakkiri provincial court last Wednesday, most of their invective was directed toward the court itself, and toward someone they termed “a rich man from Phnom Penh,” a Mr. Heang Socheat, whom, they ...

As expected, opposition leader Sam Rainsy failed to show up at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for a scheduled questioning date on Friday, as he remains abroad after being hit with a slew of criminal charges and an arrest warrant in recent weeks. ...