Law and judiciary

While there are many issues for Cambodia’s journalists to cover these days—from the tensions with Vietnam over border issues to land disputes, the law to regulate NGOs, the labor sector and others—the country’s reporters are often disrupted from their work. ...

Who killed 24-year-old Chhun Kim at an Internet shop run by her family? This was the question left hanging at the end of a hearing at the Court of First Instance yesterday, where 22-year-old portrait sketcher Dang Sopheak was on trial for her murder. ...

Officials from the Council of Ministers and the Justice Ministry will meet today to discuss the arrest of former opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour. ...

Military police in Stung Treng province on Monday arrested a Laotian man with a half-kilogram of crystal methamphetamine he had smuggled into the country, an official said Tuesday. ...

Two men were detained, fined and released Monday morning in Siem Reap province for attempting to transport 100,000 newly hatched snakehead fish from the Vietnamese border to sell to fish farmers, officials said Tuesday. ...

Seven Nigerian men who stand charged with drug trafficking denied any involvement in an alleged methamphetamine ring during the second day of their trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday, a month after an eighth man admitted to acting as a courier. ...

Activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature caused more than $100,000 in damages to a company that was legally dredging for sand in Koh Kong province, Khem Sameth, CEO of the company Direct Access, said yesterday. ...

The seven opposition CNRP lawmakers charged last year with “leading an insurrection” could be arrested and imprisoned in the same way that opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested and imprisoned over the weekend, Justice Ministry spokesman Chin Malin said Tuesday. ...

The Ministry of the National Assembly-Senate Relation and Inspection today held a meeting at Cambodiana hotel, discussing on a new draft law on inspection before sending to the Council of Ministers. ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Monday imprisoned three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature after a prosecutor charged them with threatening to cause damage during their ongoing campaign against a company accused of illegally dredging at a local estuary, according to rights group Licadho. ...

Disgraced former Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei was sent to the Kandal Provincial Prison on Sunday after he was charged with embezzlement for allegedly confiscating an SUV from a drug dealer and giving it to his son, a prison official said Monday. ...

Cambodia’s former deputy consul-general to Ho Chi Minh City denied forging a document to help a private company smuggle luxury-grade wood into Vietnam during the first day of his trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday. ...

Former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith is enjoying preferential treatment in prison, according to an NGO with access to the facility, while the three garment workers he was jailed for shooting have still not received compensation. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says the article of the constitution that demarcates Cambodia’s borders could be amended, for use of an older, more accurate map. ...

Some two-hundred vendors peacefully gathered in front of the residence of Prime Minister Hun Sen near Independence Monument, seeking the premier’s intervention to stop a planned construction of new Doeum Kor market. ...

A Cambodian court on Sunday charged opposition senator Hong Sok Hour with three counts of crimes and ordered to place him in a pre-trial detention, according to court officials and a defense lawyer. ...

The president of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Sam Rainsy returned home yesterday afternoon and announced his support to the amendment article 2 of the constitution. ...

The president of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Sam Rainsy returned home yesterday afternoon and announced his support to the amendment article 2 of the constitution. ...

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Buddhist Monk Association has slammed the August 1 arrest and defrocking of two monks, accusing police officials of detaining the pair on baseless and politically motivated charges. ...

The number of casualties from last week’s fatal bus crash in the Dankrek Mountains rose to 17 on Friday, after victim Sem Sambath, 58, succumbed to her injuries, Siem Reap Provincial Hospital director Pen Phalkun said yesterday. ...

Following orders from Prime Minister Hun Sen, opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested and charged with forgery and incitement over the weekend for posting an apparently fake treaty with Vietnam to Facebook. ...

Officials in Kratie province are insisting that a small group of families involved in a local land dispute register with the Interior Ministry or be “punished.” ...

Thirty labor unions and associations appealed to the Labor Ministry on Friday to redraft its planned Trade Union Law, which they say will suppress industrial action and facilitate union busting, despite significant concessions in the latest draft. ...

Three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature were summoned to appear at the Botum Sakor district police station in Koh Kong province on Friday to answer for their involvement in a campaign to chase off a sand-dredging company accused of destroying the environment, officials said. ...