Land
Rosewood cache uncovered
Provincial authorities in Siem Reap discovered a stockpile of rosewood weighing approximately 21 tonnes in Banteay Srei district on Wednesday afternoon. Tea Kimsoth, provincial Forestry Administration director, yesterday credited joint efforts made by the Forestry Administration and anti-economic crime police officials in discovering the wood stashed ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rosewood-cache-uncovered
‘Land for vote’ deal backfires
Before casting their ballots, residents in three communes in Kulen district carefully mulled their options. On one hand, many have found themselves locked in a land dispute with the government – forced to farm their land in secret from the forestry administration. On the other, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98land-vote%E2%80%99-deal-backfires
After Land Swap, Siem Reap Government Moves Again
Siem Reap’s provincial government apparatus, which in 2010 was relocated to a remote site 16 km outside of the city as part of an extensive and hugely controversial swap of government land and buildings, is moving back to its old home in the tourist city’s ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/top/after-land-swap-siem-reap-government-moves-again-41819/
Rubber Farmers Accuse Big Firm of Encroaching on Their Land
Roughly 100 rubber farmers in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Chum district blocked National Road 78A on Wednesday, demanding that authorities take action against a pair of laborers they accuse of stealing resin from their land. The laborers—Math Las, 40, and his wife, Nos Yas, 38—who are reportedly employed ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rubber-farmers-accuse-big-firm-of-encroaching-on-their-land-41712/
Forest Cleared for Stung Treng Dam Construction
Logging has officially begun in Stung Treng province in preparation for the construction of a massive hydropower dam, but local authorities and villagers said Wednesday that the clearing of forest is going unchecked outside the official dam concession area. The Lower Sesan 2 dam was approved ...
Kuch Naren and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forest-cleared-for-stung-treng-dam-construction-41693/
Police block Bopha march
Phnom Penh Municipal Hall yesterday defended the actions of police and security guards who blocked protesters as they tried to leave the capital’s Boeung Kak area before they stopped and searched an NGO’s vehicle. Dozens of Daun Penh district police, security guards and military police blockaded ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-block-bopha-march
Evictees sick as rubbish piles up
Evictees of Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila community appealed yet again to municipal authorities for alternative housing yesterday, saying garbage and waste has inundated their current settlement and is making it increasingly difficult to enter and exit the area. Borei Keila residents were evicted from their land ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictees-sick-rubbish-piles
Planned Mekong dams need environmental assessment
The Cambodian government’s plan to build 20 dams along the Mekong River, with a view to boosting energy security, could harm food security and biodiversity in the region, as well as ignite a regional conflict over sharing of the river’s water, a conference has heard. ...
SciDev.Net News Staff
http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/water/news/planned-mekong-dams-need-environmental-assessment.html
Calls for Boeung Kak Activist’s Release Renewed on One-Year Anniversary
Cambodian and international rights groups have renewed their calls for the release of Phnom Penh housing rights campaigner campaigner Yorm Bopha one year after her arrest, urging the public and national leaders not to forget her during the country’s current political deadlock. Global watchdog Amnesty International ...
Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/yorm-bopha-09032013201419.html
Tycoon’s firm behind summons, soldier says
The Pursat Provincial Court has issued a summons to a soldier based on the Thai border for allegedly clearing protected land in Veal Veng district, a move the man believes was orchestrated by a company owned by tycoon Try Pheap, which is embroiled in an ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon%E2%80%99s-firm-behind-summons-soldier-says
Timber cache hidden in plantation
A raid on an orange plantation netted more than five cubic metres of illegally logged rosewood and other luxury-grade timber in Pursat’s Kravanh district on Friday, local officials said. More than 25 police officers, forestry administration officials and environment ministry officers conducted the operation, which found ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/timber-cache-hidden-plantation
Villagers Protest Demarcation of Kindergarten
More than 500 villagers protested at a kindergarten in Phnom Penh on Thursday after workers began constructing a brick wall through its grounds in order to demarcate the land for commercial sale. The villagers began to protest on Wednesday but were placated by local authorities, who ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-protest-demarcation-of-kindergarten-41447/
Rights Groups Condemn Verdict of Murdered Journalist
The verdict issued Wednesday by the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court dropping the charges against a military police officer and his wife who were allegedly involved in the murder of an investigative journalist is a travesty of justice and a sign of impunity in the country, rights ...
Kuch Naren and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-groups-condemn-verdict-of-murdered-journalist-41435/
Journalist claims he was beaten
A local Pursat province journalist filed a lawsuit yesterday against a group of wood traders who he alleges beat him up on Tuesday. According to [Krouch] Non [Santre commune police chief], Nhok Yern, a reporter for Prum Bayon newspaper, and another journalist confronted men trafficking wood by cart. ...
Lieng Sarith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/journalist-claims-he-was-beaten
Sokimex Orders Businesses Off Prime Real Estate
Dozens of business owners occupying more than 8,000 square meters of prime real estate behind Phnom Penh’s Wat Ounalom have been ordered to vacate their premises by the local conglomerate Sokimex Group, an official from the firm said Wednesday. Though the firm declined to say what ...
Aun Pheap and Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sokimex-orders-businesses-off-prime-real-estate-41237/
Businessmen Charged Over Mining Deal Fraud
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has charged the Cambodian chairman of a local conglomerate and a Chinese business associate with fraud and using forged public documents, officials said Wednesday. Al Romny, 41, and Chinese national Chin Mongxin, 45, were arrested Saturday after an unknown complainant said ...
Eang Mengleng and Simon Lewis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/businessmen-charged-over-mining-deal-fraud-41261/
Tycoon back in firing line
For the second time in as many weeks, an NGO has accused tycoon Try Pheap of facilitating illegal logging in a protected forest during the election campaign and post-election period, and with the protection of authorities. In a report set to be released today by the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-back-firing-line
Cambodian Court Acquits Two in Slaying of Journalist
A Cambodian provincial court today dropped charges against a military police officer and his wife accused of murdering a reporter investigating the country’s illegal timber trade, drawing protests from the journalist’s wife and from human rights and environmental advocacy groups. Hang Serei Oudom, a ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/acquits-08282013145944.html
Verdict Due in Case of Brutally Slayed Reporter
A verdict in the brutal slaying last year of an investigative journalist in Ratanakkiri province is due to be handed down by the provincial court today following a reinvestigation into the case. Hang Serei Odom, 42, a reporter for the Virakchun Khmer Daily, was found hacked ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/verdict-due-in-case-of-brutally-slayed-reporter-41062/
Verdict in 15-Year-Long Land Dispute Delayed
About 200 villagers from Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district who are involved in a long-running land dispute with two businessmen gathered outside the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, waiting to hear the verdict in their case—which was ultimately delayed. The villagers are representatives of 320 families in ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/verdict-in-15-year-long-land-dispute-delayed-41070/
Fighting a different battle
Sok Ren’s eyes dart from side to side as he explains in a hushed tone why he’s been detained at military barracks in Preah Vihear province, rarely allowed to leave and under near constant surveillance, since July 31. While casting his ballot for the Cambodian People’s ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fighting-different-battle
Landmine casualties in Cambodia down 36 pct in 7 months
Cambodia reported 74 landmine casualties in the first seven months of this year, down 36 percent from the 115 casualties over the same period last year, the figures of the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC) said Tuesday. During the January-July period this year, 12 people were ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/27/c_132666679.htm
Cambodia investment scams rising
The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan and related bodies are warning of a rise in fraudulent investment schemes involving real estate in Cambodia, where economic growth is boosting foreign investment. The center received 1,312 inquiries between October 2011 and early this month from consumers who ...
The Japan Staff News Staff
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/27/national/cambodia-investment-scams-rising/#.Uh1Rq9KBmN8
Court Questions Cambodian, Chinese Businessmen Over Fraud
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday questioned two businessmen over allegations of fraud and using forged public documents, including claims they faked a signature from Prime Minister Hun Sen in a mining transaction, court and police officials said. Deputy prosecutor Var Sakada said Cambodian Al ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-questions-cambodian-chinese-businessmen-over-fraud-40923/