Law and judiciary
Legal and judicial system
B Kak factions file competing lawsuits over clash
Rival factions in the increasingly bitter dispute over land in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood filed lawsuits against each other at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday over a clash late last month. The two sides, in what once was a unified front against the neighborhood’s ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/b-kak-factions-file-competing-lawsuits-63868/
Cambodian Court Orders New Probe Into Dissident’s Call to Shoot ‘Dictator’
A Phnom Penh court on Thursday agreed to a prosecution request to consider filing more serious charges against a U.S.-based Cambodia dissident Sourn Serey Ratha accused of instigating an armed revolt against Prime Minister Hun Sen. Sourn Serey Ratha, who leads the Khmer People Power Movement ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/court-07102014203809.html
Constitutional Council OKs contentious judicial reform
Cambodia’s Constitutional Council has approved three controversial draft laws on judicial reform, despite heavy opposition from rights groups and international observers who say they will not restore the public’s faith in the courts. Critics say the laws—passed without opposition members in the National Assembly—put too much ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/constitutional-council-oks-contentious-judicial-reform/1952955.html
FBI to assist ‘Crackdown’ on dissident, police say
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has agreed to Cambodia’s request for greater assistance as it attempts to “crack down” on U.S.-based dissidents, according to the National Police Commissariat website. A delegation led by National Police Chief Neth Savoeun returned Saturday from a three-day visit ...
Simon Henderson and Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fbi-to-assist-crackdown-on-dissident-police-say-63470/
Constitutional council approves judicial laws, sends to king
The approval of King Norodom Sihamoni is all that is needed for three controversial judicial bills to be passed into law after they were declared constitutional this week by the CPP-stacked Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC). Despite an outcry from rights and legal advocacy groups over ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/constitutional-council-approves-judicial-laws-sends-to-king-63282/
Scores of Chinese arrested for phone scam
The Interior Ministry’s internal security department arrested 78 Chinese nationals Thursday for their alleged involvement in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) extortion scam in coordinated raids in Phnom Penh and two provinces. The men and women were arrested in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/scores-of-chinese-arrested-for-phone-scam-63216/
ILO says shaming factories leading to improved standards
Naming and shaming factories that fail to ensure a basic standard of conditions for their workers is starting to improve standards in the crucial garment sector, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), but persistent offenders remain. Nine factories are included in the “lowest compliance” category ...
Holly Robertson and Sun Heng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ilo-says-shaming-factories-leading-to-improved-standards-63202/
Thais free 14 Cambodian workers
Charges against 14 Cambodia migrant workers arrested in Thailand last month have been dropped and the group will return to the Kingdom tomorrow, government officials have told the Post. A hearing at the Sa Kaeo provincial court in Thailand this morning determined that the workers had been ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-free-14-cambodian-workers
‘No backroom deals’ in Veera release
Permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said the release was not made in response to Cambodia’s request for the release of 14 migrant workers being held in Thailand on visa fraud charges. “Cambodia has not asked for any favours,” Mr Sihasak said, adding that Thailand ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/418611/no-backroom-deals-in-veera-release
NCPO to thank Cambodia for release of Wira Somkhwamkhit
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has indicated it will send a letter thanking the Cambodian government for the release of political activist Wira Somkhwamkhit, who spent more than 3 years in a Cambodian prison. According to Colonel Winthai Suwari, the spokesman for the ...
Thailand National News Bureau Staff
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNFOR5707030010001
Court urged to suspend garment union leader
Two former board members of the country’s largest independent garment sector union asked the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday to suspend president Ath Thorn and two fellow officials over allegations of embezzlement. Oum Visal and Roeung Chanthorn, founding board members of the Coalition of Cambodian ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-urged-to-suspend-garment-union-leader-63083/
Six months on, no justice for shootings
Six months ago today, security forces opened fire on garment workers protesting for a doubling of their minimum wage on Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Boulevard. At least five people were killed in what rights groups called the worst state violence against citizens in 15 ...
Vong Sokheng and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/six-months-no-justice-shootings
Talks on ICJ temple ruling to come ‘eventually’
Acting Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said yesterday that Thailand would eventually resume talks with Cambodia regarding the International Court of Justice’s decision last November that clarified Cambodian sovereignty over the promontory on which the Preah Vihear temple sits. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/talks-icj-temple-ruling-come-%E2%80%98eventually%E2%80%99
Interior Ministry cabinet member jailed for fraud
A member of Interior Minister Sar Kheng’s cabinet was on Tuesday sentenced to one year in jail for fraud after he was found guilty of accepting $38,000 in 2011 from a Taiwanese-Canadian national in exchange for citizenship documents that were never delivered. ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-cabinet-member-jailed-for-fraud-62952/
Former councilor arrested for alleged fraud
Interior Ministry police arrested a former Phnom Penh deputy governor and municipal councilor on Thursday for questioning over allegations of land fraud, but released him the next day, police said Sunday. Chea Sothon, who served as a councilor from 2009 until earlier this year and was ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/former-councilor-arrested-for-alleged-fraud-62744/
Judge agrees to delay trial
Greg Thomas Fryett, a British businessman arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit last year for alleged links to a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, went on trial on Friday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/judge-agrees-delay-trial
Mobile network operators ordered to halt free SIM delivery, or face legal punishment
Authority has asked all mobile network operators in Cambodia to stop delivering free Sim Cards without getting a copy of identification card from their clients, warning that they would face legal action if they disobey the order. The warning was made during a meeting on Thursday ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZWE1NmIwNWIzMmN
Despite jail, village chief retains title
A village chief in Siem Reap who was sentenced on Tuesday to a year in prison for levelling private property to construct an office building will retain his position – at least until his appeal hearing is over, a commune official said yesterday. ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/despite-jail-village-chief-retains-title
Court gives village chief jail sentence
Two men, including a local official, were sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday for clearing privately owned land to construct an office building in Siem Reap nearly two years ago, their lawyer said yesterday. ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-gives-village-chief-jail-sentence
Firm buying Boeng Kak land claims no knowledge of evictions
A Singapore-based firm whose subsidiary plans to buy land in Phnom Penh from which thousands of families have been forcibly evicted said Wednesday that the firm had no knowledge of the long-running land dispute. The firm, HLH Group, also denied any official or financial ties to ...
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firm-buying-boeng-kak-land-claims-no-knowledge-of-evictions-62463/
Fines called for in case against Khmer Krom
An ongoing land dispute may become more than just an embittered ordeal for three Khmer Krom villagers after officials requested yesterday that a Takeo court levy them huge fines. According to representatives from Borei Choslar district’s Sangkum Meanchey village, they are only farming barren land that ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fines-called-case-against-khmer-krom
Thai court agrees to hear lawsuit over controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos
A top court in Thailand agreed on Tuesday to hear a lawsuit brought by villagers against the country’s decision to purchase power from the planned Xayaburi mega dam in neighboring Laos, which green groups say could threaten the region’s environment and food security. Overruling a lower ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/lawsuit-06242014170128.html
Union boss to appeal $25k bail
Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss-appeal-25k-bail
Hun Sen’s sister tied to company in Boeng Kak land sale
A development firm owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and accused of illegally evicting thousands of families from central Phnom Penh recently sold a small piece of its project area for $14.9 million to a company with ties to one of Prime Minister Hun ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-sister-tied-to-company-in-boeng-kak-land-sale-62344/