Law and judiciary

Several high-ranking provincial military officials – including Prey Veng’s military police commander, some of whose men are under investigation for police brutality – are slated for reassignment to national positions, according to a document obtained yesterday. ...

A former Ministry of Interior police officer was tried by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for allegedly embezzling more than $1.5 million under the pretense of buying land from Kandal province villagers for a company he used to work for. ...

Health Minister Mam Bunheng has been called to appear before the National Assembly’s anticorruption commission, according to a copy of the summons issued by acting National Assembly President Kem Sokha obtained Sunday. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Saturday fined and released 10 workers swept up in a crackdown on illegal sand dredging operations by the Ministry of Mines and Energy last week. ...

A planned demonstration against the consumption of dog meat was shut down before it could begin in Phnom Penh on Sunday after city authorities said the group did not have permission to gather. ...

Child protection NGO Friends International said this week it will contest being officially cited as the originator of allegations of sexual misconduct at Our Home orphanage that led to the center’s closure last month and to the imprisonment of its director, Hang Vibol, on suspicion ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Friday questioned an Areng Valley villager opposed to a government-backed hydropower dam over allegations of illegal logging but has yet to lay charges. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday delayed the trial of fugitive Defense Ministry official Thong Sarath’s parents, who are facing charges of possessing illegal firearms. ...

Angry locals burned tires on the Chroy Changva peninsula Friday to protest the building of a road through their village, which is at the center of a land dispute with the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC). ...

The chief of police in Preah Sihanouk province has been removed from his position and will be replaced by Chuon Narin, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh municipal force, according to the Interior Ministry. ...

Three owners of sand dredging companies were among 11 people arrested Thursday by military police—working in tandem with the Ministry of Mines and Energy—for operating without a proper license, according to a spokesman for the ministry. ...

The justice minister on Wednesday wrote to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court requesting that the judge in charge of a case surrounding a long-running land dispute report to the ministry, following intervention from the National Assembly’s human rights commission. ...

A Malaysian construction company building a hotel next to Phnom Penh’s iconic “White Building” has agreed to fortify a four-story crack that appeared in the apartment block in February, deputy municipal governor Chreang Sophan said Thursday. ...

A spike in violent crime over the past year has seen Cambodia receive a “critical” rating in a report outlining the potential dangers for U.S. Embassy staff operating in the country. The Cambodia 2015 Crime and Safety Report, which was compiled by the U.S. Bureau of ...

The Geneva-based Human Rights Committee (HRC) called on Cambodia Thursday to step up efforts to curb impunity and fully investigate incidents where excessive force was used against civilians. ...

After overseeing the destruction of all but six of 172 temporary shelters that had been erected on farmland claimed by an ethnic Bunong community in Mondolkiri province on Tuesday, authorities returned to destroy the remaining structures Wednesday, again on the grounds that the land belonged ...

The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court has denied bail to Russian businessman Nikolai Doroshenko, who was arrested at his family’s restaurant in Sihanoukville last week and jailed on a trio of fraud charges related to a dispute with fugitive developer Sergei Polonsky, the investigating judge said ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday announced the creation of a recurring annual $5-million fund to help Phnom Penh and every provincial capital clean up their trash-strewn streets, especially outside homes and restaurants. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Wednesday ordered police across the country to focus on investigating and arresting the leaders of illegal-drug syndicates rather than low-level traffickers and users. ...

As refugees being held by Australia on the South Pacific island of Nauru continue to spurn the prospect of resettling in Cambodia, many Cambodians likewise say they do not want to see any of the refugees sent to their country. ...

Despite a 72 percent increase in the number of drug-related arrests last year compared to 2013, 50 percent less drugs were seized during the same period, an official from the National Authority for Combating Drugs’ (NACD) said Tuesday. ...

Police in Mondolkiri province on Tuesday burned down more than 130 shelters belonging to a community of ethnic Bunong families in Keo Seima district that authorities accuse of squatting on a Vietnam­ese rubber plantation, a local official said. ...

The former common-law wife of tycoon Khaou Phallaboth appeared in court yesterday to face allegations she breached the terms of her 2013 divorce by not letting her ex-husband, and his family, see their 8-year-old daughter. ...

A Russian man wanted for his involvement in a violent brawl at Sihanoukville’s Queenco casino in February was arrested and jailed Tuesday evening after leading more than 20 police on an hour-long motorbike chase through the coastal town, officials said. ...