Legal and judicial system

A Phnom Penh court on Thursday agreed to a prosecution request to consider filing more serious charges against a U.S.-based Cambodia dissident Sourn Serey Ratha accused of instigating an armed revolt against Prime Minister Hun Sen. Sourn Serey Ratha, who leads the Khmer People Power Movement ...

Cambodia’s Constitutional Council has approved three controversial draft laws on judicial reform, despite heavy opposition from rights groups and international observers who say they will not restore the public’s faith in the courts. Critics say the laws—passed without opposition members in the National Assembly—put too much ...

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has agreed to Cambodia’s request for greater assistance as it attempts to “crack down” on U.S.-based dissidents, according to the National Police Commissariat website. A delegation led by National Police Chief Neth Savoeun returned Saturday from a three-day visit ...

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 ...

The Interior Ministry’s internal security department arrested 78 Chinese nationals Thursday for their alleged involvement in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) extortion scam in coordinated raids in Phnom Penh and two provinces. The men and women were arrested in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and ...

Naming and shaming factories that fail to ensure a basic standard of conditions for their workers is starting to improve standards in the crucial garment sector, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), but persistent offenders remain. Nine factories are included in the “lowest compliance” category ...

Charges against 14 Cambodia migrant workers arrested in Thailand last month have been dropped and the group will return to the Kingdom tomorrow, government officials have told the Post. A hearing at the Sa Kaeo provincial court in Thailand this morning determined that the workers had been ...

Permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said the release was not made in response to Cambodia’s request for the release of 14 migrant workers being held in Thailand on visa fraud charges. “Cambodia has not asked for any favours,” Mr Sihasak said, adding that Thailand ...

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has indicated it will send a letter thanking the Cambodian government for the release of political activist Wira Somkhwamkhit, who spent more than 3 years in a Cambodian prison. According to Colonel Winthai Suwari, the spokesman for the ...

Two former board members of the country’s largest independent garment sector union asked the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday to suspend president Ath Thorn and two fellow officials over allegations of embezzlement. Oum Visal and Roeung Chanthorn, founding board members of the Coalition of Cambodian ...

Six months ago today, security forces opened fire on garment workers protesting for a doubling of their minimum wage on Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Boulevard. At least five people were killed in what rights groups called the worst state violence against citizens in 15 ...

Acting Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said yesterday that Thailand would eventually resume talks with Cambodia regarding the International Court of Justice’s decision last November that clarified Cambodian sovereignty over the promontory on which the Preah Vihear temple sits. ...

A member of Interior Minister Sar Kheng’s cabinet was on Tuesday sentenced to one year in jail for fraud after he was found guilty of accepting $38,000 in 2011 from a Taiwanese-Canadian national in exchange for citizenship documents that were never delivered. ...

Interior Ministry police arrested a former Phnom Penh deputy governor and municipal councilor on Thursday for questioning over allegations of land fraud, but released him the next day, police said Sunday. Chea Sothon, who served as a councilor from 2009 until earlier this year and was ...

Greg Thomas Fryett, a British businessman arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit last year for alleged links to a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, went on trial on Friday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...

Authority has asked all mobile network operators in Cambodia to stop delivering free Sim Cards without getting a copy of identification card from their clients, warning that they would face legal action if they disobey the order. The warning was made during a meeting on Thursday ...

A village chief in Siem Reap who was sentenced on Tuesday to a year in prison for levelling private property to construct an office building will retain his position – at least until his appeal hearing is over, a commune official said yesterday. ...

Two men, including a local official, were sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday for clearing privately owned land to construct an office building in Siem Reap nearly two years ago, their lawyer said yesterday. ...

A Singapore-based firm whose subsidiary plans to buy land in Phnom Penh from which thousands of families have been forcibly evicted said Wednesday that the firm had no knowledge of the long-running land dispute. The firm, HLH Group, also denied any official or financial ties to ...

An ongoing land dispute may become more than just an embittered ordeal for three Khmer Krom villagers after officials requested yesterday that a Takeo court levy them huge fines. According to representatives from Borei Choslar district’s Sangkum Meanchey village, they are only farming barren land that ...

A top court in Thailand agreed on Tuesday to hear a lawsuit brought by villagers against the country’s decision to purchase power from the planned Xayaburi mega dam in neighboring Laos, which green groups say could threaten the region’s environment and food security. Overruling a lower ...

Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to ...

A development firm owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and accused of illegally evicting thousands of families from central Phnom Penh recently sold a small piece of its project area for $14.9 million to a company with ties to one of Prime Minister Hun ...

The Cambodian government is in the process of amending its gaming laws in a bid to draw major casino operators, industry sources have confirmed to GGRAsia. Earlier on Tuesday, the Phnom Penh Post reported that the new draft of the national casino law could be finalised ...