Legal framework
Laws and regulations
Russia claims Cambodia failed to notify of embezzler’s arrest
Cambodian officials have not informed Russian authorities about the arrest of a wanted embezzler in Sihanoukville last month, despite apprehending him at their request, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. ...
Khy Sovuthy and Sonia Kohlbacher
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/russia-claims-cambodia-failed-to-notify-of-embezzlers-arrest-110950/
Court releases activist, former capitol tours bus driver on bail
Former Capitol Tours bus driver Nan Vanna and labor activist Ros Siphay were released on bail Wednesday, nearly two months after they were arrested for taking part in a demonstration against the company during which protesters were attacked by a mob of angry tuk-tuk drivers. ...
South Korea envoy defended as graft probe continues
A relative of Cambodia’s ambassador to South Korea, who was detained on Monday amid a corruption probe, yesterday claimed the envoy was innocent, as the Anti-Corruption Unit reportedly prepared to send the case to court. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/south-korea-envoy-defended-graft-probe-continues
Ministry hits back at rebuke of contentious telecoms law
The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has defended the controversial new Telecommunications Law following a biting legal analysis by rights group Licadho, which says the legislation is a veiled tool to silence critics and potentially criminalize private expression. ...
Sonia Kohlbacher and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-hits-back-at-rebuke-of-contentious-telecoms-law-110921/
Trade union law passes
The National Assembly yesterday passed a contentious trade union law, just hours after a group of pro-union demonstrators and Daun Penh district security guards clashed violently outside. ...
Ananth Baliga and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trade-union-law-passes
New Lao border construction leads to provincial protests
Laos’ military has begun building a base just meters from an undemarcated stretch of its border with Cambodia, sparking protest from Stung Treng provincial authorities, officials said on Sunday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-lao-border-construction-leads-to-provincial-protests-110795/
Protest to greet Union Law vote
As the National Assembly finally comes face to face with the draft union law today, it is unclear whether opposition lawmakers will vote against the contentious legislation. Independent trade unions, meanwhile, are planning a protest outside parliament. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protest-greet-union-law-vote
Scammers pretend to be senior officials, threaten governors
The Ministry of Interior has ordered National Police to investigate a scam in which unidentified callers claimed to be senior officials at the ministry and the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in an attempt to extort money from district governors, according to a letter issued on April ...
Chhorn Chansy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/scammers-pretend-to-be-senior-officials-threaten-governors-110794/
Activist monks found guilty of drug possession, death threat
Two defrocked monks were handed prison sentences at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday, with one of them found guilty of drug possession and making a death threat and the other of using fake documents and improperly wearing monks’ robes. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activist-monks-found-guilty-of-drug-possession-death-threat-110771/
Attacked Prey Lang activist vows to keep up the fight
Sleeping in a hammock strung between two tall trees, deep inside Prey Lang forest, environmental activist Phorn Sopheak was startled awake at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning when her parked motorbike toppled over onto her body. ...
George Wright and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/attacked-prey-lang-activist-vows-to-keep-up-the-fight-110769/
Residents, activists call for city to stop filling in lakes
Protesters from Phnom Penh’s lakeside communities spent an hour facing off with police on Thursday on a road on the former Boeng Kak lake before turning around and taking a different route to the National Assembly, where they demanded an end to the infilling and ...
Police block families of mother nature activists during march
Security forces on Thursday blocked two mothers and a wife of jailed activists from the environmental group Mother Nature from walking to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house to protest their family members’ imprisonment, before a representative of the premier’s cabinet chastised them for using the ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-block-families-of-mother-nature-activists-during-march-110706/
City police chief announces measures to rein in weapons
Phnom Penh’s police chief on Thursday blasted his subordinates for doing an inadequate job of controlling weapons issued to officers, and announced that police had begun a “weapons census” in an effort to deal with the problem. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-police-chief-announces-measures-to-rein-in-weapons-110730/
Pursat village leaders arrested for selling state land
A village chief and his assistant accused of fraudulently selling 2 hectares of state-owned forest in Pursat province have been arrested and sent to the Veal Veng district Forestry Administration headquarters. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pursat-village-leaders-arrested-selling-state-land
Oil tanker crashes into jetty off Sihanoukville
One man is missing and presumed dead, and there are concerns about an oil slick of unknown size after a Kampuchea Tela oil tanker crashed into a jetty belonging to the company at Sihanoukville. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/oil-tanker-crashes-jetty-sihanoukville
Rainsy says french investigating grenade attack
Speaking via video-link at a ceremony on Wednesday marking the 19th anniversary of the 1997 grenade attack in Phnom Penh, self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced that a French court had re-opened an investigation into the deadly attack he has long blamed on Prime Minister ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rainsy-says-french-investigating-grenade-110637/
As union law vote nears, employers call for last-minute changes
Representatives of employers from Cambodia’s industrial sector called for changes to the contentious draft union law yesterday. They criticized the government’s enforcement of strike regulations while requesting changes to the law that include higher thresholds for forming unions and more powers for dissolving unions. ...
Jonathan Cox and Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23356/as-union-law-vote-nears--employers-call-for-last-minute-changes/
Ministries announce new regulations for foreign business owners
The Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor have imposed new regulations and legal conditions on foreign investment and businesses in Cambodia, with the ministries requiring foreign-owned companies to file correct legal papers and to strictly follow Cambodia’s immigration and labor laws, including foreign ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23349/ministries-announce-new-regulations-for-foreign-business-owners/
Amateur motorsport cup promotes road safety
Phnom Penh’s hell-raising street racers will enjoy a structured outlet for their love of motorbikes at a new amateur racing cup on Koh Pich island this weekend, a competition also meant to promote compliance with the new traffic law. ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amateur-motorsport-cup-promotes-road-safety-110452/
ACU tosses complaint against ActionAid
The Anti-Corruption Unit on Thursday dismissed a complaint filed by a Cambodian NGO against the local arm of the international humanitarian group ActionAid for allegedly embezzling $3 million, the unit’s chairman said. ...
Kuch Naren and Janelle Kohnert
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acu-tosses-complaint-against-actionaid-110404/
New job for principal accused of embezzlement
A high school director in Prey Veng province accused of embezzling thousands of dollars was transferred to a new position with the provincial government on Wednesday following a protest by students and teachers. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/110400-110400/
Government unaware of at least 128 orphanages, report says
The government was unaware of about half of the residential child care centers operating in four provinces and Phnom Penh prior to a study conducted last year, according to a report released on Thursday. ...
Buth Kimsay and Sonia Kohlbacher
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/110401-110401/
Anti-graft body opens investigation into Sokha
The government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Thursday announced it was launching an official investigation into allegations that deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha made unlawful land and apartment purchases for a mistress. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-graft-body-opens-investigation-into-sokha-110386/
After City Hall snub, Borei Keila evictees ask UN for help
Former residents of Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila community on Wednesday handed petitions to the U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia, requesting that she intervene in their feud with authorities after they were snubbed by City Hall earlier in the day. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-city-hall-snub-borei-keila-evictees-ask-un-for-help-110354/