Law and judiciary
Legal and judicial system
Grenade Attack Remembered Amid Promised Reform
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha joined dozens of monks and hundreds of supporters on Monday for a Pchum Ben ceremony at the memorial stupa in Phnom Penh honoring the 16 people who were killed by a grenade attack on an opposition rally in ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/grenade-attack-remembered-amid-promised-reform-43996/
Complaint Lodged Against Commune Chief
Villagers have accused a CPP commune chief in Ratanakkiri province of threatening four ethnic minority Tampoun men after they filed a complaint against him for allegedly selling off community land to a local businessman. Rocham Norng, a Tampoun villager in Bakeo district, has alleged that Soeung ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/complaint-lodged-against-commune-chief-44004/
Malaysian and Sri Lankan Charged Over Bank Card Scam
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday heard the case of a Malaysian and a Sri Lankan charged with using fake bank cards to withdraw up to $50,000 from ATMs during Khmer New Year in 2012. Delvin Joshap, 30, of Malaysia, had masterminded the crime and ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/malaysian-and-sri-lankan-charged-over-bank%E2%80%88card-scam-44012/
NGOs Call for Freedom of Information Laws
A coalition of 30 NGOs on Friday called on the Government to draft and pass a freedom of information law to overthrow its “culture of secrecy”. The groups said Saturday is the 10th Right to Know Day, but that Cambodians are being denied a “fundamental human ...
Lauren Crothers, P.12
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/
After CPP Reshuffle, Sok An’s Fiefdom Trimmed
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An has a stunning portfolio of positions within the CPP government. On Monday, CPP lawmakers once again appointed Mr. An as the Cabinet Minister for Prime Minister Hun Sen. He is also the chairman of the state-controlled Cambodian National Petroleum Authority and ...
Kuch Naren and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/after-cpp-reshuffle-sok-ans-fiefdom-trimmed-43665/
Database looks at court flaws
Nearly half of defendants lack legal representation, 80 per cent are held in pretrial detention, and a sizeable chunk confess before they get a hearing, according to an online public database released yesterday by the Cambodia Center for Human Rights. The database reveals numerous infringements on ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/database-looks-court-flaws
Suspects Freed; No Hope of Justice for Slain Union Leader
Sok Sam Oeun and Born Samnang left Prey Sar prison’s Correctional Center 1 on Thursday for the last time, putting behind them an ordeal that has lasted nearly a decade during which they were wrongfully imprisoned for a total of five years each for the ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/suspects-freed-no-hope-of-justice-for-slain-union-leader-43679/
Compensation for Falsely Jailed Men Unlikely in Cambodia
After spending 2,073 days in prison, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were exonerated on Wednesday by the Supreme Court of having killed popular union leader Chea Vichea in 2004. Legal expert Sok Sam Oeun of the Cambodian Defenders Project said that although the two ...
Denise Hruby and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/compensation-for-falsely-jailed-men-unlikely-in-cambodia-43684/
Jubilation as Pair Acquitted of Union Leader’s Assassination
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the men wrongfully sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2004 murder of Free Trade Union (FTU) leader Chea Vichea, were exonerated Wednesday by the Supreme Court of the crime. Responding to the acquittal, Chea Vichea’s brother, Chea Mony, ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jubilation-as-pair-acquitted-of-union-leaders-assassination-43396/
Judicial reform pledged by PM
The Cambodian government has privately pledged that it will pass the long-awaited “three fundamental laws” aimed at reforming the judiciary during the first session of parliament in early 2014, UN rights envoy Surya Subedi said. The laws – which focus on codifying the court’s jurisdiction, laying ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/judicial-reform-pledged-pm
Intimidation charges levelled
Three officials from Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district were charged on September 10 for threatening and intimidating a villager after he filed a lawsuit related to the corrupt sale of community land in 2011, according to a letter obtained by the Post yesterday. Romas Svang, 47, of Yatung commune, received ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/intimidation-charges-levelled
Cambodia’s high court drops case against men wrongly jailed for 2004 murder of labor activist
Cambodia’s Supreme Court ordered the release of two men Wednesday who were wrongly convicted and jailed for the 2004 murder of a prominent opposition activist. The court’s decision to drop all charges came amid renewed calls to free the men, whom leading international rights groups have ...
The Washington Post News Staff
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/cambodias-high-court-drops-case-against-men-wrongly-jailed-for-2004-murder-of-labor-activist/2013/09/25/2170fc90-25c2-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html
Two Months Prison for Driver Who Killed Three
The Appeal Court has reduced the already shortened sentence of the 31-year-old son of a high-ranking official who killed three women in a car accident, ordering him to serve just two months in prison, a court official said Tuesday. Bun Rattanak, the son of municipal finance ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-months-prison-for-driver-who-killed-three-43173/
Company director sentenced
The former director of a Vietnamese-owned rubber firm was sentenced in absentia to two and a half years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday, and ordered to pay $800,000 in compensation for defrauding his former employer, a court official said yesterday. “The ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/company-director-sentenced
Rights groups call for release of ‘scapegoats’
Rights groups and the United Nations yesterday urged the Supreme Court to drop the case against two men widely believed to have been wrongfully convicted of the slaying of unionist Chea Vichea when it convenes this morning. Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were re-arrested in ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rights-groups-call-release-%E2%80%98scapegoats%E2%80%99
Two Decades On, Constitution Fails to Live Up to Promises
The atmosphere in Phnom Penh 20 years ago today was one of jubilation and optimism as then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk signed Cambodia’s new Constitution into law and reclaimed the throne as King. The promulgation of the Constitution—which marked the end of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia’s ...
Alex Willemyns and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-decades-on-constitution-fails-to-live-up-to-promises-43035/
Businessman’s Son Has Prison Sentence Cut
The Court of Appeal has reduced to six months the original three-and-a-half-year prison term handed to the son of a wealthy businessman for pistol-whipping a man and damaging restaurant property. Duong Udomchorvin, 24, was sentenced in May, along with his 17-year-old brother, Duong Kimlong, who was ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/businessmans-son-has-prison-sentence-cut-43055/
Norwegian Energy Firm Eltek Demands Mfone Pay Up
Norwegian energy firm Eltek on Thursday demanded $5 million it is owed from bankrupt telecommunications company Mfone by the end of October and blamed the court and the government for stalling payment. During a meeting at Mfone’s headquarters in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Keng Kang III commune, ...
Simon Henderson and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/norwegian-energy%E2%80%88firm-eltek-demands-mfone-pay-up-42823/
Fertilizer Scam Referred to Anti-Corruption Unit
The case of a Battambang provincial government official accused of embezzling some $200,000 in state funds has been referred to the Anti-Corruption Unit in Phnom Penh, provincial officials said Thursday. Battambang Provincial Court deputy prosecutor Long Hokmeng said a two-week investigation into the case brought against ...
Eang Mengleng and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fertilizer-scam-referred-to-anti-corruption-unit-42818/
Questions over strike violence
A Kampong Speu judge released the vice-president and a member of the Free Trade Union on bail yesterday after the court questioned the two about their alleged roles in a violent demonstration at Sabrina Garment factory. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/questions-over-strike-violence
Three Charged for Logging Rosewood in Angkor
The Siem Reap Provincial Court charged three men Wednesday with illegally logging luxury rosewood inside the Angkor Archaeological Park, a Unesco world heritage site, officials said. Provincial prosecutor Heng Pheng said the suspects had been identified as Sun Phearak, 20, Phay Sophea, 18, and Phin Ron, ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-charged-for-logging-rosewood-in%E2%80%88angkor-42695/
Six Charged With Assault in Wake of Clashes With Police
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday charged six men with assault and destruction of property for their role in clashes Sunday night between security forces, protesters and angry commuters, which resulted in a 29-year-old construction worker being shot dead. Sanh Samoeun, 28; Nguyen Thi Dek, ...
Eang Mengleng and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/six-charged-with-assault-in-wake-of-clashes-with-police-42600/
Boeng Kak Women March for Activist’s Release
More than 50 supporters of jailed anti-eviction activist Yorm Bopha marched through central Phnom Penh on Tuesday to demand her speedy retrial, acquittal and release, visiting the Supreme Court, the Royal Palace and the European Union and World Bank offices. Ms. Bopha has consistently professed ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-women-march-for-activists-release-42147/
Ethnic Minorities File Illegal Logging Complaint
A group of 12 ethnic minority villagers in Ratanakkiri province have filed a complaint with the provincial court over what they claim is collusion between other villagers and local authorities to illegally log luxury timber from 193 hectares of land inside a community forest. The Prov ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ethnic-minorities-file-illegal-logging-complaint-42145/