Law and judiciary

Four Boeung Kak lake activists, including recently jailed community leader Tep Vanny, will face trial next month for a five-year-old case of insulting and obstructing public officials during a 2011 protest at City Hall. ...

A U.S. court will next week hold its first hearing in CNRP official Meach Sovannara’s lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son, Hun Manet, for wrongful imprisonment, according to a lawyer involved in the case. ...

Cambodia’s first independent association for promoting intellectual property (IP) is seeking closer cooperation with government agencies to help the private sector better understand IP, its benefits and the importance of registering their products. ...

Cambodian police, prosecutors and policymakers were hosted in Washington recently by the US government, as part of America’s efforts to support the drafting of the Kingdom’s controversial cybercrime law. ...

A letter sent to authorities in Siem Reap province on Monday by nine park rangers accusing two senior environment officials of involvement in illegally cutting down six trees for profit was dismissed as a lie by one of the accused yesterday, who instead insisted it ...

Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Council of Ministers announced yesterday that a draft consumer protection law, which is intended to ensure that food and consumer products made domestically or imported into Cambodia are safe, was almost complete. A quarter of the almost 60 ...

The National Commercial Arbitration Centre (NCAC) received its latest case last week, marking just the third time that a commercial dispute has been brought to the independent dispute resolution body, its president said yesterday. ...

The Rattanakiri provincial court will hear a case against provincial officials brought by rights group Adhoc on Wednesday, which accuses them of failing to prevent illegal logging in Lumphat district. ...

Police in Banteay Meanchey province are searching for a military officer who illegally bought a centuries-old statue head of the Hindu deity Shiva from a farmer who unearthed it, officials said on Thursday. ...

A truck packed with garment workers traveling to factories in Kompong Speu province overturned on Wednesday while attempting to avoid another truck crossing the road, injuring 39 women, including a dozen who suffered broken arms and legs, officials said. ...

The first-ever study to measure compliance with Cambodia’s new Law on Accounting and Auditing found few companies willing to talk about their accounting practices, and a low rate of compliance among those that did.   ...

The government launched a campaign yesterday to distribute 3.4 million pieces of reflective tape in an effort to reduce traffic accidents at night, with Prime Minister Hun Sen ordering officials and party members to give the tape out for free and threatening to arrest anyone ...

Late last year, in one of his provocative Facebook posts from abroad, opposition leader Sam Rainsy falsely accused Heng Samrin’s 1980s regime of sentencing King Norodom Sihanouk to death. ...

After eight years in the works, the Agriculture Ministry on Monday circulated the framework for Cambodia’s first law regulating the quality of domestic and imported meat products and livestock. ...

Authorities stopped a truck illegally transporting a load of valuable timber through Kratie province on Saturday, but failed to apprehend the driver and his assistant, who fled on foot, an official said on Sunday.   ...

The local arm of tobacco giant Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which makes Camel, Winston and Mevius cigarettes, has blasted the Association of the Tobacco Industry of Cambodia (ATIC) for failing to ensure its members adhere to new regulations mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. ...

Corruption czar Om Yentieng said on Wednesday that he might still open an investigation into graft allegations against the head of the National Police’s public order department, which oversees the nation’s traffic officers, if the subordinates who made the claims were unsatisfied with their boss’s ...

Employees of the National Police’s public order department, which oversees the country’s traffic officers, have accused their boss of embezzlement, favoritism, abuse of power and other offenses, according to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). ...

Timor-Leste’s fledgling economy depends on oil and gas production and Cambodia is seeking assistance from Asia’s youngest nation to help develop its draft petroleum law which is expected to be adopted into legislation by the Council of Ministers next year. ...

The tobacco industry has urged the government to crack down on cigarette smuggling ahead of new laws mandating graphic health warnings, saying failure to do so gave smuggled products a competitive edge. ...

Cambodian police say they are investigating the declaration of a coup against the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, but have laughed off any suggestion of the threat being serious.   ...

Four members of a forest patrol were ambushed in Preah Vihear’s Cheam Pen community forest on Tuesday afternoon, according to deputy forest chief Ros Lim. ...

Turkey’s ambassador to Cambodia alleged on Monday that a top international school in Phnom Penh is overseen by the “terrorist organization” behind last week’s thwarted coup in Turkey—prompting a threat of legal action by the school.   ...

A judge postponed the start of a defamation trial against National Election Committee official Ny Chakrya on Monday after the two Siem Reap court officials who brought the case against him failed to show up at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.   ...