Law and judiciary

Two economic zones in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City closed down on Thursday, sending some 30,000 workers home over what local officials said were violent protests by groups of workers demanding higher wages. ...

A third man died of gunshot wounds in Phnom Penh Wednesday night after an Interior Ministry official gunned down a village chief and his relatives when a neighborhood dispute escalated earlier in the day, police said on Thursday. ...

Since launching in 2009, Wing has been largely on its own in the mobile money transfer market, opening thousands of payment kiosks across the country and benefitting from rapidly expanding base of mobile phone users. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s first state visit to Thailand today and tomorrow will be a milestone in enhancing previously frayed diplomatic relations with Cambodia’s largest neighbor and will also pay off economically, diplomats, executives and analysts say. ...

With the return of the Cambodia National Rescue Party to the National Assembly this week, following a boycott that began in November, analysts say there is a chance some of the party’s activists could be released from jail. ...

Police and military police officials across the country on Wednesday said they had tightened security at shops and markets, a day after Interior Minister Sar Kheng threatened to demote provincial police chiefs who failed to make arrests following a wave of violent armed robberies. ...

A seemingly minor dispute between an Interior Ministry official and a village chief in Phnom Penh turned deadly when the official gunned down the village chief and his relative on Wednesday afternoon, according to police, who offered wildly different reports of the shooting. ...

Military police in Phnom Penh on Wednesday arrested a seventh suspect in the kidnapping of three Chinese men freed on Monday from their captors, who had detained them for two months in a bid to make them pay back loans with the help of their ...

With strong bipartisan support, the National Assembly on Wednesday passed the country’s first animal health and production law, which sets out rules for the humane treatment of livestock and the safe processing of animal meat. ...

A private English tutor in Battambang province has confessed to repeatedly molesting multiple female students as young as 6, following his arrest at the home of one of the girls on Tuesday, an official said on Wednesday. ...

A senior human rights monitor in Banteay Meanchey province was questioned on Wednesday by the provincial court over a street protest that took place on Monday, but his organization, Adhoc, is claiming that the court breached judicial procedure in getting him there. ...

Embattled Ratanakkiri prison director Tin Sovanny yesterday issued a warning – but no lawsuit – against staff members who have accused him of a slew of crimes, including having sex with an inmate, using prison land to build a house and using prison labour for ...

The environmental NGO at the center of an extortion scandal in Siem Reap province has a track record of using its employees as racketeers in order to enrich itself, according to officials who have previously dealt with the organization. ...

Empathy and forgiveness should be at the heart of efforts to heal the wounds of Cambodia’s tragic history, according to academics attending a recent symposium. Kosal of Brooklyn College added that the tribunal might not be an effective mechanism to achieve reconciliation and healing for ...

The death toll on Cambodia’s roads this year is up 5 per cent from all of 2014, according to government figures released yesterday. ...

Police chiefs in three provinces have been given an ultimatum from Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng – put a stop to armed robberies or step down. ...

Cambodia’s badly overcrowded prison population leapt by nearly 20 per cent in the first 10 months of this year, government data show, raising serious health concerns.The figures, released by the Interior Ministry’s general department of prisons yesterday, show that there were 17,522 prisoners in jails ...

A new set of standards for orphanages that the Ministry of Social Affairs plans to enforce over the coming months, combined with a global move toward community-based care, has at least one organization worried it will be forced to close down. ...

The Ratanakkiri prison director accused of a litany of crimes by his underlings has fired back, denying their reports and accusing them of drug-taking, laziness and running illegal timber businesses. ...

A protest leader was arrested during a demonstration on Monday morning outside Banteay Meanchey provincial police headquarters in Poipet City because authorities said the group of about 40 people did not have permission to protest. ...

Dozens of officials at Ratanakkiri Provincial Prison have called for the director of the facility to be removed, citing a wide range of violations, including having sex with a female inmate, permitting unsanctioned prison labour and pocketing money paid in exchange for benefits. ...

An official at the Ministry of Justice says he hopes a new law on information access will help improve the country’s attitude toward its judiciary, which is widely seen as politically biased and corrupt. ...

Senate spokesman Mam Bun Neang issued a statement Monday describing as “shameful” the decision by the chamber’s 10 opposition senators to boycott the day’s vote in protest of the arrest warrant issued for opposition leader Sam Rainsy. ...

A U.S.-based Pentecostal ministry with an extensive network of “orphan homes” in Cambodia will be investigated by the Ministry of Social Affairs after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced at one of its centers in Kratie province, though the organization will be allowed three months to ...