Law and judiciary
Legal and judicial system
Court hears years-old case against CNRP officials, lawyer
The Kandal Provincial Court on Tuesday tried two opposition CNRP officials and their lawyer—two of them in absentia—over a case dating back to 2011 that was abruptly scheduled a week ago. Chan Cheng, who was elected last year as a CNRP National Assembly member from Kandal ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-hears-years-old-case-against-cnrp-officials-lawyer-64703/
Release quickly follows deal
A jubilant crowd of opposition supporters burst into cheers yesterday afternoon as seven Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers-elect and one party activist were released on bail just hours after an announced rapprochement between the CNRP and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. They walked free through exits ...
Joe Freeman
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/release-quickly-follows-deal
Cambodian court frees 8 opposition politicians on bail after political deal reached
A Cambodian court on Tuesday afternoon released seven opposition party lawmakers-elect and one party activist on bail after the ruling and opposition parties reached a political agreement. “The eight politicians were released from Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison at 4:45 p.m. after questioning judge Keo Mony ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-07/22/c_133502874.htm
Villagers in court: Prey Lang land activists deny charge
Forest activists accused of destroying private property told a court hearing in Kampong Thom province yesterday that they were acting to protect mainland Southeast Asia’s largest evergreen forest from illegal logging. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-court-prey-lang-land-activists-deny-charge
Sochua ‘off limits to US Embassy’
Despite multiple requests, the US Embassy has not been given access to visit dual citizen Mu Sochua since her arrest last Tuesday, officials said yesterday. “Consular officers attempted to visit Mu Sochua the evening she was arrested but were not permitted to see her and multiple ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sochua-%E2%80%98-limits-us-embassy%E2%80%99
Acid attack leaves 3 injured
After more than half a year with only one acid attack recorded in Cambodia, police in Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town are at a loss to explain an incident yesterday in which three women were allegedly doused with the chemical while eating noodles at a local ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/acid-attack-leaves-3-injured
Journalists, publisher arrested over alleged timber extortion
Three reporters and a publisher were arrested in two separate cases of attempted extortion in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces on Sunday after stopping vehicles suspected of carrying illegally logged timber, according to local authorities. Mom Mon, 54, and Kim Noeun, 28, reporters for the Sangkum Khmer and ...
Protest outside Kandal court as questioning starts in land case
About 200 people from Ponhea Leu district protested outside the Kandal provincial court Monday as questioning began of residents summoned last month in an ongoing land dispute. The court summoned 12 villagers on June 30, shortly after Phanimex Development company filed a complaint against the families, ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-outside-kandal-court-as-questioning-starts-in-land-case-64632/
Activists deny property damage charge in court
Nine environmental activists on trial for the destruction of private property in Kompong Thom province denied allegations in court Monday that they ravaged a local farmer’s cassava field in 2011. The nine members of the Prey Long People’s Network, a group of activists dedicated to protecting ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activists-deny-property-damage-charge-in-court-64613/
Request rejected to have union head step down
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has rejected a request from two former members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU) to have the union’s president be forced to step down as he is investigated for embezzlement. Former CCAWDU officials Oum Visal and Roeun ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/request-rejected-to-have-union-head-step-down-64507/
Cambodian authorities take two more opposition MPs into custody
Thursday while a court summoned its deputy chief for questioning following violent clashes when party supporters tried to force the reopening of Freedom Park in the capital. Elected members of parliament Nut Rumduol and Long Ry were taken into custody by policemen in plain clothes from ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/violence-07172014203608.html
Opposition supporters rally at Prey Sar prison to ask for the release of five lawmakers
About 100 CNRP activists and supporters gathered Thursday at Prey Sar prison to put pressure for the release of five opposition lawmakers and another supporter who are under detention. Policemen were seen guarding around the Prey Sar prison to prevent the protesters from approaching the site, ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=MWM3ODZkODg2MDI
CNRP officials imprisoned on insurrection charges
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday charged at least seven opposition CNRP lawmakers-elect and a party activist with insurrection and incitement over a protest that turned violent on Tuesday, sending six of the group to Prey Sar prison. Meng Sopheary, a lawyer on the defense ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-officials-sent-to-prison-on-charges-of-insurrection-64320/
Legal experts: Cambodia judicial laws of 'Deep concern'
International legal experts are expressing deep concern over proposed changes to Cambodia’s legal system that critics say hand over too much power to the executive. At a meeting in Phnom Penh Tuesday, a group recommended the three judicial reform laws should be returned to parliament ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/legal-experts-say-cambodia-judicial-laws-of-deep-concern/1958277.html
UN rights expert appeals for calm amid violence in Cambodia
United Nations rights envoy for Cambodia Surya Subedi on Wednesday urged all sides to immediately exercise utmost calm and restraint in the wake of alarming reports of violence following opposition protests in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. “Democracy depends on respect, not violence,” he said in a ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=230177
Cambodian court charges opposition lawmakers
A Cambodian court charged six opposition activists on Wednesday with leading an insurrection after clashes with security forces prevented their followers from rallying in a public park, deepening a yearlong political crisis after a disputed election. Lawyers and rights activists said six leading members of the ...
AlJazeera America News Staff
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/16/cambodia-oppositionprotestjailed.html
CNRP demands release of three lawmakers
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) on Tuesday called for the authority to release its three lawmakers arrested in a violent clash at the Freedom Park. The CNRP also expressed its regret over the violent clash between district security forces and protesters who demand ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YzNiMTE4YzExODA
After factory ignores ruling, garment workers to march
Employees of the Ocean Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district continued to protest Monday against management’s decision to ignore an Arbitration Council ruling on owed wages. Cheng Chhorn, secretary general of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said the workers will march to ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-factory-ignores-ruling-garment-workers-to-march-64074/
NGOs to petition King over judicial laws
A group of civil society organizations will petition King Norodom Sihamoni today, calling on the king to withhold his signature from three judicial laws that they say will entrench the ruling CPP’s control of the courts and jeopardize citizens’ constitutional freedoms. Despite concern raised by local ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-to-petition-king-over-judicial-laws-64054/
Police shooting: Charges for intentional murder set
A Mondulkiri military police officer has been charged with intentional murder after allegedly shooting and killing a man who ignored an order to stop his car while passing through a protected forest in the province’s O’Raing district, Mondulkiri provincial prosecutor Khout Sopheang said yesterday. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-shooting-charges-intentional-murder-set
Work continues at contested KDC site
A company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem forged ahead with its construction of a concrete wall around a swath of disputed land in Kompong Chhnang province Friday, despite a call from the U.N.’s human rights envoy on Thursday that ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/work-continues-at-contested-kdc-site-63906/
Four years on, arbitration center a step closer to taking cases
Nearly four years after it was established by the Commerce Ministry and one year on from its official launch, the National Commercial Arbitration Center (NCAC) held its first annual assembly Friday. The NCAC was set up in 2010 to provide businesses with an alternative to the ...
Ang Sothear and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/four-years-on-arbitration-center-a-step-closer-to-taking-cases-63898/
Coup reorients relations with Cambodia
Thailand’s military coup has reoriented Thai-Cambodian relations with surprising effects. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s overt enmity and confrontation towards Thailand over the past several years have become conciliatory and accommodating for the time being. Whether this new pattern of bilateral ties is solidified depends ...
Thitinan Pongsudhirak
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/419967/coup-reorients-relations-with-cambodia
Envoy calls out KDC firm
United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights Surya Subedi has called on politically connected development company KDC International to halt its project in Kampong Chhnang province. Following violent clashes between KDC security guards and protesters on Monday, Subedi released a statement yesterday that calls on all ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/envoy-calls-out-kdc-firm