Law and judiciary

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. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday convicted and imprisoned four people for their roles in a fraud case that involved the forging of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s signature to secure a mining license in Mondolkiri province. Al Romny, the 41-year-old director of the local company ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court imprisoned a prominent businesswoman who has exclusive rights to collect taxes at a number of Phnom Penh markets Monday over breach of trust charges related to a subcontracting agreement, signed in 2008, to let a business partner collect fees at ...

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 ...

Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has summoned eight villagers locked in a land dispute with a powerful development company for questioning next week over allegations of aggravated violence and the destruction of property during a series of clashes with workers at the site last month. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng said that two points of the draft Constitution amendment sent by Sam Rainsy need to be discussed further. The two points are immunity and autonomous budget for National Election Committee (NEC). “We needed to discuss further over the request to grant immunity ...

The roughly 900 employees of a Phnom Penh garment factory gutted by a fire that killed a Chinese supervisor on Monday protested in front of their old workplace on Thursday to demand a quick payout of their final paychecks and severance. The Chinese-owned Cheng Sheng Garment ...

A group of NGOs is urging Cambodia’s two main political parties not to rush the election reform process. Instead, the Electoral Reform Alliance says the ruling party and opposition should ensure they have completed the reform process before they open a National Assembly session, which would ...

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 ...

Trade unions at either end of the political divide Wednesday said they were eager to renew their agreement with garment factories to abide by the rulings of the country’s Arbitration Council, with some changes, despite a new report showing that both unions and employers often ...

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. ...

The opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday sent a letter attaching with draft Constitution amendment to Interior Minister Sar Kheng. ...

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 ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has postponed a two-day meeting with telecom firms to discuss a controversial draft law leaked to the Post last week, which details the government’s plan to assert control over the industry. A representative from one telecommunications provider who wished ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday concluded the trial of two former employees of Canadia Bank and two alleged accomplices charged in October with embezzling more than $2 million from fraudulent credit card accounts. Presiding Judge Kor Vandy heard closing arguments in the case—believed to ...

A “shadow cabinet” will be created inside the National Assembly once the CNRP’s lawmakers-elect swear into office, senior opposition party officials said Thursday, in a move that nine years ago saw an opposition lawmaker imprisoned on charges of inciting a rebellion. Prime Minister Hun Sen and ...

Cambodia’s telecom sector is outraged over a draft law handed down by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) on Wednesday, which details a government plan to assert control over the industry. In what is being labeled an “unprecedented, draconian” effort to nationalise the industry, the ...

Police and court officials on Wednesday searched the home of villager Oum Sophy, who has been outspoken opponent of the well-connected KDC company as it has tried to push her and dozens of her neighbors off their land in Kompong Chhnang province. The raid came after ...

Economic crimes police on Wednesday arrested a woman and seized 3 tons of low-quality fishballs, claiming she had illegally imported the potentially dangerous meat. Kandal province resident Chan Thea, 37, was stopped in Phnom Penh while en route to Battambang—where police believe she was planning to ...

After months of decrying the one-party National Assembly as illegitimate and vowing to amend any flawed legislation passed during a parliamentary boycott, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, by agreeing to take its seats yesterday, is about to get its chance. In the roughly 10-month period since ...

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 ...

Two villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the well-connected KDC company were charged Tuesday with intentional destruction of property and causing injuries during clashes with workers at the disputed development site in Kompong Chhnang province last week. On Monday, provincial police arrested 30-year-old Mang ...