Law and judiciary
Legal and judicial system
Cambodia revising gambling laws to attract investment
The Cambodian government is in the process of amending its gaming laws in a bid to draw major casino operators, industry sources have confirmed to GGRAsia. Earlier on Tuesday, the Phnom Penh Post reported that the new draft of the national casino law could be finalised ...
GGRAsia News Staff
http://www.ggrasia.com/cambodia-revising-gambling-laws-to-attract-investment/
Reform needed with new appeal courts on the way
As part of a trio of long-awaited judicial laws passed last month by the National Assembly, the country’s judicial system is set to integrate a number of new provincial appeal courts, expanding access to the appeal process to people imprisoned outside Phnom Penh. But the only ...
Lauren Crothers and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reform-needed-with-new-appeal-courts-on-the-way-62217/
Without lawyer, Krom villagers face court trial
Arrest, detention and even an upcoming trial can’t sway 68 Khmer Krom families faced with eviction to give up a bitter land dispute over a bird sanctuary in Takeo province. After being charged in April with illegally occupying state land, three representatives from Sangkum Meanchey village ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/without-lawyer-krom-villagers-face-court-trial
KDC families want compensation deal revoked
Twenty-two families who have been locked in a bitter, seven-year dispute over 145 hectares of land in Kompong Chhnang province with a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem claim they were illegally pressured into accepting compensation and filed a ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kdc-families-want-compensation-deal-revoked-62215/
Half-year protest shutters factory
A six-month protest over unpaid bonuses has seen production at a Por Sen Chey district box factory grind to a halt over the past four days, with more than 200 former employees blocking gates and preventing shipments. Former employees at Harta Packaging Industries began barricading gates ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/half-year-protest-shutters-factory
Defendants not informed of rights in cambodian appeal court cases: study
Judges in Cambodia’s Court of Appeal fail to inform defendants of their rights and a high number of hearings do not even have the defendants or their lawyers present, according to a study by a local rights group. In addition, the quality of evidence presented at ...
Richard Finney
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/rights-06232014173104.html
Release our relatives: evictees
The families of four people from Pailin province’s Krinh village who have been incarcerated since March for allegedly living on state land are calling for their release. Fifty-year-old Nheb Nharn said that he and his wife, Om Som Ath, had lived on the land in Stung ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/release-our-relatives-evictees
UN envoy meets employers over labor unrest
U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi met with representatives of the country’s businesses and employers Thursday for talks that focused on the protection of workers’ rights and measures that can be taken to ensure that strained industrial relations do not once again erupt into violence. In ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-meets-employers-over-labor-unrest-61951/
Court questions tycoon in dispute with his brother
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday questioned an elderly tycoon who was jailed earlier this month in a real estate dispute with his brother, also a prominent businessman. Huot Seng Long, 76, who also uses the name Thai Seng Long, was questioned in a closed-door ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-questions-tycoon-in-dispute-with-his-brother-61829/
Official in court over fraud case
A high-level agricultural official in Kampong Speu province has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from paddy rice farmers after promising to deliver them land titles in January 2013, a rights group representative and a court prosecutor said yesterday. Cher Pich, 44, deputy director of ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/official-court-over-fraud-case
Unionist’s case hazy
After a third day of questioning, during which the plaintiff’s story allegedly changed, the head of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union is in the dark as to where his case stands. Investigating judge Chea Sok Heang yesterday did not set a date for further questioning and ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unionist%E2%80%99s-case-hazy
Union leader to face another day in court
The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union is due to appear in court this afternoon for a third round of pretrial questioning over a case stemming from a strike that ended more than six months ago. Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-leader-face-another-day-court
Controversial judiciary laws pass without change
With all 11 senators from the opposition boycotting their seats, the Senate on Thursday passed three controversial judiciary laws which critics say will tighten government control of the courts. The ruling CPP’s 44 senators passed the laws without change, said CPP senator and Senate spokesman Mam ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/controversial-judiciary-laws-pass-in-senate-without-debate-61309/
Timber seized during bust
Mixed security forces led by Kratie province’s court prosecutor yesterday arrested six people in a huge illegal logging bust, confiscating more than 100 cubic metres of protected luxury-grade timber. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/timber-seized-during-bust
New guidelines aim to protect women, children
A 100-page set of guidelines for the legal protection of the rights of women and children was launched by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Phnom Penh on Thursday in a bid to address shortfalls in how the judicial system handles cases such as rape, ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-guidelines-aim-to-protect-women-children-61320/
Four nabbed in provincial logging bust
Mondulkiri provincial police charged four men with illegal logging and immigration crimes after they allegedly caught the suspects collecting wood in O’Raing district. Vietnamese nationals Orng Minh Chhung, 30; Le Vantieng, 38; Tvan Taktech, 33; and Thvang Vanthai, 36, were arrested while gathering freshly cut pieces ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/four-nabbed-provincial-logging-bust
Reporter drops threat complaint, court says
A journalist who filed a complaint with the Pursat Provincial Court alleging that a soldier threatened to kill him over an illegal logging report withdrew his complaint after the soldier was internally disciplined, court officials and military police said Monday. Sak Rom, a reporter with Kapit ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reporter-drops-threat-complaint-court-says-60888/
Evictees reject latest offer from UK sugar firm
Representatives for the 200 Cambodian families suing U.K. sugar firm Tate & Lyle for allegedly profiting off of their stolen land say they have rejected the firm’s latest offer to settle the dispute and are looking forward to their first court date, set for October. The ...
Kuch Naren and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evictees-reject-latest-settlement-offer-from-uk-sugar-firm-60869/
Cambodia called out for extrajudicial killings
Cambodia has been cited as one of 10 countries in which torture and extrajudicial killings are common, in a submission made this week by the Hong Kong-based Asia Legal Resource Center to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-called-out-for-extrajudicial-killings-60668/
Printer cops $12k bill for bootlegged books
The owner of a printing house accused of infringing on the copyright of an author who contracted him was slapped with $12,500 in fines and damages by Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/printer-cops-12k-bill-bootlegged-books
Fake outfits, real time
Two men were sentenced to three years in prison yesterday by Phnom Penh Municipal Court for impersonating a police officer by donning a National Police uniform, complete with a plastic pistol and fake number plate. “After stopping, checking and asking him, we knew he was ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fake-outfits-real-time
Group accused of relics theft to be questioned
The Kandal Provincial Court on Tuesday will question five prisoners who have protested their innocence in the December theft of ancient Buddhist relics from Odong mountain, alongside a suspect who confessed to the crime, a court official said Tuesday. “We will punish only the people involved ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/group-accused-of-relics-theft-to-be-questioned-60440/
After jail, Pov gains following
Before he was arrested in January, Vorn Pov and the union he created were not widely known outside of activist circles. But when he emerged from Phnom Penh’s CC1 prison on Friday, he walked away as one of the highest-profile unionists in the country, and a ...
Kevin Ponniah, May Titthara and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-jail-pov-gains-following
Shops unfazed by annual bootleg DVD crush
The Ministry of Culture steamrolled 300,000 bootlegged DVDs Monday in its annual celebration of efforts to stamp out piracy. But at DVD shops across Phnom Penh, where pirated movies are sold for $1.50 or less, owners said they see little threat to their businesses. ...
Sek Odom and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/shops-unfazed-by-annual-bootleg-dvd-crush-60424/