Court monitoring

Six NagaWorld union members want the Phnom Penh court to tell them the exact conditions under which they were given bail, after union president Chhim Sithar was arrested in November for allegedly violating a court-ordered travel ban. ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on Wednesday urging Cambodian authorities to drop espionage charges which it deemed politically motivated against two former Radio Free Asia (RFA) journalists and free them of court supervision. But Ministry of Justice spokesman Chin Malin dismissed the statement ...

The defence lawyer for two former Radio Free Asia reporters will file an appeal with the Supreme Court tomorrow challenging their detention on charges of “espionage”. The Appeal Court upheld their pre-trial detention last week. ...

After ignoring summonses for two months, a prominent timber tycoon accused of illegally trading luxury-grade wood in Mondulkiri province appeared at court to deny his involvement in the case.​ Sam Ol was summonsed on October 12 to testify after the authorities’ anti-logging task force found ...

Jailed former opposition leader Kem Sokha was questioned by a judge in prison yesterday, according to his lawyers, who classified the questioning as “aggressive” and “inappropriate”. ...

A group of local journalists have written an open letter calling for the release of former Radio Free Asia journalists Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, who were arrested earlier this month. ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng yesterday issued an order demanding that all provincial governors create a “standby working group” to monitor the political situation in anticipation of unrest following the opposition party’s potential dissolution later this week. ...

Disgraced former Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Heng Pov yesterday called for a speedy appeal trial before the Supreme Court in two of his cases – which relate to the possession of fake currency and to the illegal detention of a suspect – despite lamenting ...

A court investigation into illegal timber trafficking has targeted 11 provincial officials—including Mondolkiri’s heads of the military and military police, and potentially a court prosecutor—prompting the case’s transfer to Phnom Penh at the request of the justice minister, officials said on Tuesday. ...

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision to deny jailed political analyst Kim Sok’s request for bail, also rejecting his request to summons Prime Minister Hun Sen, the plaintiff in the two defamation and incitement cases that landed the analyst in detention. ...

Two Ministry of Mines officials were convicted on corruption charges yesterday in a Phnom Penh court after confessing to selling state land, but nonetheless walked free after a judge reduced their sentences. ...

In a surprise move, four human rights workers and an election official, collectively known as the “Adhoc 5”, were released from pretrial detention yesterday evening, 427 days after they were taken into custody on bribery charges relating to an opposition sex scandal. ...

The 13-month investigation into five current and former human rights workers known as the ‘Adhoc 5’ has ended, a court spokesman said on Wednesday, paving the way for a trial in a case widely condemned as being unjust and politically motivated. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen used a public speech yesterday to mercilessly mock former opposition leader Sam Rainsy, taunting him to make good on a promise to return to Cambodia, sarcastically referring to him as a “hero” and even singing a few bars of a classic ...

In the first and only day of her trial yesterday, prominent alleged timber trader Heng Samnieng claimed that Military Police officers had tried to sell off pieces of timber confiscated by authorities in Stung Treng, where she was arrested in October while allegedly attempting to ...

Four senior officials for rights group Adhoc will remain behind bars after the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling that they should be held in detention while awaiting trial, but gave no reason for the decision. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision to keep four officials from rights group Adhoc imprisoned while the court investigates their case was right “according to the law,” a Supreme Court official said on Monday during an appeal hearing. ...

At least three women – one pregnant – and a man were hurt in a clash with security forces at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday after land rights activist Tep Vanny was jailed for two and a half years over a 2013 protest. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has issued a warrant for the temporary seizure of Top World Garment Cambodia Ltd’s property in order to get the employer to appear and find a solution for workers still owed their December salaries. ...

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a $25,000 fine for three environmental activists who fled the country after being convicted of threatening to destroy a sand dredging barge in Koh Kong province in 2015. They are now debating returning home, however, after the court ...

Undeterred by the $500,000 lawsuit filed against him by Prime Minister Hun Sen, political commentator Kim Sok returned to the radio waves on Tuesday to say that the government could settle the case against him by releasing video footage of Kem Ley’s murder. ...

Political commentator Kim Sok’s worldly possessions—two iPhones, an iPad and $200 in savings—may soon become Prime Minister Hun Sen’s property after the premier filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the commentator for allegedly claiming that the CPP killed Kem Ley. ...

A United Nations expert has called on the government to immediately release human rights and National Election Committee officials who have been controversially accused of bribing a witness.“The charges are seen as politically motivated and in November 2016, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ...

The Appeal Court yesterday dismissed a bail request for Tep Vanny, the prominent Boeung Kak land activist charged with intentional violence related to a protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house in 2013, a case reactivated after she was arrested during a Black Monday protest ...