Law and judiciary

The Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has opened an investigation into the alleged rape of a high-school student by a district police chief and summoned the 19-year-old to appear for questioning over the case, officials said Sunday. ...

Two monks were arrested in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district on Saturday for possessing a small amount of crystal methamphetamine, police said Sunday, but fellow monks and pagoda residents claimed the arrests were retaliation for the two taking part in political rallies. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs has completed drafting a law on juvenile justice that will soon be moved forward for approval and debate at the legislature. The new law, as drafted, aims to provide rehabilitation opportunities for juveniles, rather than simple prison sentences, and meets ...

Cambodian border experts say the government should nullify treaties it has with Vietnam and begin again border demarcation under the 1991 Paris Peace Accords. ...

Rights group Adhoc has hit back at accusations from the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia that it interferes in judicial proceedings involving its lawyers, saying that the group had merely requested that a backlog of case files be moved from the home of ...

Hundreds of Cambodian internet users have made their feelings unknown on their government’s controversial plants to regulate the country’s internet, after a local civil society group invited public comment online. ...

The wife and relatives of a business tycoon arrested for the murder of another businessman have appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to release the suspect, his bodyguards, and his parents, who were all arrested after the murder. ...

After exposure in the press and a brush with military police, a protest leader has fled rural Kampot for Siem Reap province. ...

Authorities in Sihanoukville have ordered 26 vendors on O’chheuteal Beach to move their stalls away from the popular stretch of sand by Saturday next week in the interest of “aesthetic beauty” or face eviction. ...

Yem Ponhearith, chairman of the National Assembly’s commission on religious affairs, culture and tourism, on Thursday told a workshop that arrivals of “anarchic religious tourists” from Vietnam are harming Cambodia’s religious harmony. ...

Human Rights Watch on Thursday added its voice to the criticism of Cambodia’s judiciary for defamation charges brought against Ny Chakyra, a senior human rights advocate who accused two judicial officials in Siem Reap province of misconduct in their handling of a land dispute. ...

Police in Mondolkiri province arrested seven men Thursday for transporting what was originally suspected to be more than 6.5 tons of TNT, but later determined to be a powder used for purifying gold, officials said. ...

Police in Sihanoukville on Thursday arrested a 61-year-old Russian man they deemed a danger to the public after hearing of his erratic behavior and discovering his collection of knives, a police official said. ...

Authorities in Sihanoukville have ordered 26 vendors on O’chheuteal Beach to move their stalls away from the popular stretch of sand by Saturday next week in the interest of “aesthetic beauty” or face eviction. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced four men to between 30 years and life in prison for a grenade attack in Phnom Penh last year, an attempted assassination that injured five people and killed the intended target’s 11-year-old son.Presiding judge Leang Samnath convicted the ...

A traffic accident in Battambang’s Sampov Loun district involving a Lexus and a Hyundai truck on Wednesday evening left four people dead, including two children, and seven injured, as police continue to search for the truck’s driver, who fled the scene. ...

A soldier and two civilians were charged on Wednesday with illegally clearing forest land by the Kompong Thom Provincial Court, while a second soldier who allegedly guarded the illicit operation has been charged with illegal weapons possession, a court official said Thursday. ...

A street seller who beat a Thai tourist to death with a pole outside a restaurant in Koh Kong province’s Khemara Phoumint City on Tuesday night was charged with murder by the provincial court on Wednesday, officials said Thursday. ...

Opposition leaders have been unable to negotiate a release of 11 political activists handed steep sentences earlier this month for their alleged involvement in violent demonstrations last year. ...

A group of opposition lawmakers has urged the Constitutional Council to amend a contentious law on regulating NGOs in the country. Prum Nhean Vicheth, a spokesman for the Constitutional Council, confirmed receipt of the petition and said the Council will be considering the draft law ...

The opposition is expected today to lodge a constitutional challenge to the controversial law on associations and non-governmental organisations (LANGO) in a last-ditch effort to stop the legislation before it’s signed by the King. ...

An international arrest warrant has finally been issued for Chhouk Bundith, the former governor of Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City who went into hiding before being found guilty of shooting three garment workers three years ago, according to National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday delayed a verdict in the $1-million fraud case brought by a Phnom Penh dentist against Cambodian-American businessman Richer San and three of his associates, saying further investigation is needed. ...

Drivers in Cambodia have a lot to contend with: cavernous potholes, weaving motorcycles kicking up clouds of choking dust and noodle hawkers trundling down the “fast” lane. Now motorists may find their pockets as ravaged as their nerves, after officials announced a fivefold bump in ...