Crime and law enforcement

The two top officials in what was first reported as a kidney-trafficking ring based out of a military hospital, then later dismissed as a “training program”, have returned to work, a doctor employed there said. Lieutenant General Ly Sovan, 54-year-old director of Preah Ket Mealea hospital, ...

Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy yesterday said that, contrary to his speech before the National Assembly last week, the Kingdom’s political crisis would not be resolved as long as opposition activists were still being harassed by the courts. If there are still CNRP members ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court has summoned another official from Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to appear in court over July 15 violent clash near the Freedom Park. According to the subpoena issued Tuesday by Keo Mony, Phnom Penh Court’s investigation judge, a member of CNRP’s board ...

The Chinese government on Tuesday donated $3 million to Cambodia to set up a closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system across Phnom Penh to help cut down on crime and traffic accidents, according to the national police. “This is a donation from the Chinese Ministry of Public ...

Military police in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district on Monday were duped into letting a detained immigration official walk free just hours after he was arrested for alleged involvement in the cross-border illegal timber trade, police said yesterday. District military police chief Sok Min said yesterday that ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit has announced that three people, including a police officer, who were arrested last week in Svay Rieng province after posing as students taking the grade 12 national exam, have been charged with using false identities. In a statement released on Monday, the ACU ...

Nine Prey Lang forest activists received suspended one-year prison sentences at Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday and were ordered to pay $1,250 to a businesswoman whose hectare of cassava they were accused of uprooting, the defendants’ lawyer said. Yong Panith – who represents Mao Thea, 37; ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned yesterday that people who instigate and commit acts of violence will face the full force of the law. In characteristically cryptic language, he told thousands of students on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich that his government would not tolerate violence. ...

Eight opposition members have been called back to court, facing lingering charges of insurrection and incitement as Cambodia’s dueling political parties continue to fine tune details of an agreement last month. The seven lawmakers and one assistant for the Cambodia National Rescue Party were released on ...

Kandal province’s Tuol Reachea pagoda has been ordered shut for a week after authorities yesterday broke into the living quarters of Thean Vuthy, a man who claims to be the next Buddha, and found jewellery and other “irregular” items. The joint force from the Ministry of ...

The Friday arrest of a local businesswoman who holds the municipal contract to collect parking and stall fees from markets citywide on breach of trust charges came as no surprise to many vendors, aggrieved by what they say are her unfair business practices. Cheav Vibol, deputy ...

Staff from the Ministry of Cults and Religion seized promotional material from a man claiming to be a Buddhist “god” on Sunday in Kandal province, officials said yesterday. The operation was conducted at Reachea pagoda, where Thean Vuthy had been promoting himself as the fifth and ...

About 150 ethnic Kuoy villagers gathered outside Preah Vihear Provincial Court yesterday to protest the questioning of eight villagers and an NGO staff member for allegedly inciting villagers in Tbeng Meanchey district to destroy 36 tonnes of sugarcane. ...

Expatriates working in Cambodia without labour identification cards will face fines and even jail when strict new enforcement kicks in, according to a July 16 joint statement from the ministries of interior and labour. Government inspectors, the statement adds, will begin checking workplaces immediately in order ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

A newspaper editor and a suspected illegal logger have been arrested over the shooting of a senior forestry official in Mondolkiri province earlier this month, according to police. Pum Poeun, the 48-year-old editor-in-chief of Borei Angkor newspaper, was arrested in Phnom Penh on Sunday. Len Kamry, ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

When authorities in Kampong Chhnang province on Friday encountered and pursued the boat of alleged illegal fisherman Chieb Ou, they couldn’t have expected to find themselves being chased instead. But that’s precisely what happened when, rather than surrendering, the 42-year-old suspect turned his boat towards the ...

Cambodia’s cybercrime law was leaked earlier this year. Cambodian officials have denied the existence of such a draft law, but local and international rights group have criticized the secret draft process, as well as some stipulations that might affect freedom of speech online. VOA Khmer ...

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 ...