Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Justice
New arbitration center president calls for court system’s support
The newly established National Commercial Arbitration Center (NCAC) may have been set up to allow businesses to settle disputes outside the court system, but it still needs support from judges and court officials to do its work effectively, its president said on Friday. Speaking at ...
Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-arbitration-center-president-calls-for-court-systems-support-72408/
KNLF remains on police radar
With 10 alleged members of the “terrorist” Khmer National Liberation Front (KNLF) facing charges of treason, police yesterday threatened further arrests in Cambodia and abroad. The KNUF, or Tiger Head Movement, was accused of attempting to bomb the Cambodia-Vietnamese Friendship Monument in 2007, and the ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/knlf-remains-police-radar
Nigerians in meth bust lacked passports, visas
Nine Nigerian nationals arrested by police in Phnom Penh on Sunday night for possession and distribution of crystal methamphetamine were in Cambodia without passports or valid visas, an anti-drug police chief said. ...
Saing Soenthrith and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nigerians-in-meth-bust-lacked-passports-visas-71204/
Hundreds to seek pardon from King
About 800 prisoners will be considered for Royal pardons or reduced sentences as part of Water Festival events, Such Sophan Nara, director of the Ministry of Justice’s penal department, said yesterday. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-seek-pardon-king
Heng Pov’s conviction affirmed by high court
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the murder convictions of former Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief Heng Pov and three others in the case of the 2003 killing of Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Sok Sethamoni. Defendants Pov, Ly Rasy, Hang Vutha and Prum Sophearith have been ...
Kim Sarom
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/heng-pov%E2%80%99s-conviction-affirmed-high-court
Journalist investigating illegal logging shot dead
A 49-year-old journalist reportedly investigating illegal logging in Kratie province was shot dead early Sunday morning. Within hours, police arrested three men—a commune police chief, a military police officer and a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldier—for the murder, officials said. Taing Try, who contributed to ...
Saing Soenthrith and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/journalist-investigating-illegal-logging-shot-dead-69629/
Lawmakers call for talks over Lor Peang land
The National Assembly’s Human Rights Committee has laid out its plan to mediate negations to settle a more than decade-long land dispute between villagers and a powerful development company in Kompong Chhnang province’s Lor Peang village. The bipartisan committee announced early this month that it would ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmakers-call-for-negotiations-over-land-in-lor-peang-67961/
Lor Peang villagers march to Justice Ministry, National Assembly
A group of Kompong Chhnang villagers in a fight for land with the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem delivered petitions to the Ministry of Justice and National Assembly on Monday, one of five communities from across the country that have recently traveled ...
Khuon Narim and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lor-peang-villagers-march-to-justice-ministry-national-assembly-67138/
Unions say gov’t blocking branch registrations
In March, the Ministry of Labor for the first time began requiring union leaders to submit proof they had no previous criminal convictions before they would be allowed to register a new union or local branch. Now, the country’s leading unions say worker representatives are struggling ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-say-govt-blocking-branch-registrations-66958/
Fresh arrests for embattled KDC villagers
Three men embroiled in a land dispute with a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem were arrested Tuesday while marching with about 50 fellow villagers from Kompong Chhnang province’s Lor Peang village to Phnom Penh. The villagers planned to walk ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fresh-arrests-for-embattled-kdc-villagers-66343/
Lawyer says court won’t question lawmakers
The charges of “leading an insurrection” brought against seven CNRP lawmakers-elect after a violent protest last month now appear dead in the water, with their lawyers saying a Phnom Penh judge has told them he cannot question them over the case because they have sworn ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawyer-says-court-wont-question-lawmakers-on-insurrection-66263/
Cracking down 101
A deal to end the political deadlock may reduce demonstrations in the streets, but the authorities are leaving nothing to chance – Daun Penh’s notorious district security guards are finally receiving proper government training. City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche, who has previously said the baton-wielding district ...
Daniel Pye and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cracking-down-101
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/
Constitutional council approves judicial laws, sends to king
The approval of King Norodom Sihamoni is all that is needed for three controversial judicial bills to be passed into law after they were declared constitutional this week by the CPP-stacked Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC). Despite an outcry from rights and legal advocacy groups over ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/constitutional-council-approves-judicial-laws-sends-to-king-63282/
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/
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/
Senate boycott planned
Opposition senators will boycott the plenary session on Thursday at which ruling Cambodian People’s Party lawmakers are expected to debate three controversial judicial draft laws that passed through the National Assembly unopposed last month. ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/senate-boycott-planned
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
Groups seek audience with Senate over Judicial Reform Drafts
Human rights groups and other members of civil society on Tuesday submitted a letter to Senate President Chea Sim, requesting a meeting over their concerns for three draft judicial reform laws passed last month in the National Assembly. The three drafts must be approved by ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/groups-seek-audience-with-senate-over-judicial-reform-drafts/1928506.html
Lack of judiciary consultation on key Cambodian laws draws concern of UN rights expert
The lack of consultative process on three draft laws has set a worrying precedent for future key legislation, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi. “For many years in my capacity as the Special RapporteurI ...
UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47904#.U4WD6PmSxqV
Cambodian parliament passes judicial reform laws amid opposition boycott
Cambodia’s ruling party- controlled National Assembly has unanimously passed three laws, designed to strengthen the country’s judicial system, despite ongoing boycott of parliament by the main opposition party. The Law on the Organization of the Judiciary was adopted on Thursday, and the Laws on the Organization ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/23/c_133355900.htm
Assembly passes first of three contentious laws on judicial reform
Ruling party lawmakers at the National Assembly pass the first of three draft laws in judicial reform, defying an opposition boycott and ignoring calls for further review by outside legal experts. The Law on the Organization of the Courts will put more power within the Ministry ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/assembly-passes-first-of-three-contentious-laws-on-judicial-reform/1920338.html
CPP lawmakers lash out at critics of one-party Assembly
The single-party National Assembly sat for the second day of its third plenary session Wednesday, discussing two of eight chapters of the draft law on the Organization and Functioning of the Courts. The CPP-only parliament—minus 55 boycotting opposition CNRP lawmakers-elect—convened to discuss the first of three ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-lawmakers-lash-out-at-critics-of-one-party-assembly-59332/
Minister to address beatings
Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith has pledged to meet with Daun Penh District Governor Sok Sambath to discuss the targeting of journalists by hired district security guards, said UNESCO country representative Anne Lemaistre, who met with the minister on Friday. The minister is also keen on ...
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minister-address-beatings