Legal framework

A representative of Bonna Realty Group said yesterday that the arrest of the company’s eponymous chairman on Friday on fraud charges stemming from a bounced cheque would have no impact on the business because it was purely a personal matter. ...

A newspaper publisher charged with murdering his friend in Phnom Penh last year told the municipal court on Thursday that his confession to military police was obtained through torture, but the presiding judge argued that such a claim would have “broken out” in the media ...

Police arrested a man in Koh Kong province on Friday for allegedly sexually assaulting his friend’s two young daughters over the course of a day and a night.   ...

The government has announced a new action plan to deal with the drug problem in Trapaing Chhouk, a slum in the capital’s Sen Sok district that has been an open market for drug use and distribution for over a decade.    ...

Seven years after Cambodia put a stop to its own international adoption programs, the Catalan regional government in Spain signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Social Affairs on Tuesday that will allow its residents to adopt Cambodian children.   ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will unveil the first draft of its long-awaited whistleblower protection law next month, according to minutes of a May 30 meeting between the ACU and the National Council Against Corruption published on the unit’s website, but observers are not holding their ...

Police are searching for a gang of thieves who cut through the wall of a garment factory in Kompong Speu province on Thursday before making off with nearly 3,000 shirts, according to police.   ...

A community of ethnic Phnong people in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district has accepted a settlement from a Vietnamese rubber firm ending a five-year land dispute. ...

National Election Committee deputy secretary-general Ny Chakrya has appealed to his NEC colleagues to help secure his release from prison so he can resume working on organising the 2017 local and 2018 national ballots. ...

Despite earlier statements by company representatives that $500 compensation packages being offered to land disputants at Ly Yong Phat’s Kampong Speu economic land concession (ELC) were negotiable, attendees of a meeting between company representatives and residents yesterday said they felt pressured to take the offer. ...

A Justice Ministry spokesman yesterday lashed out at European Union representatives for a statement condemning the “judicial harassment” of opposition leader Kem Sokha, while the Ministry of Education slammed a teachers union that backed the CNRP acting president.   ...

Beginning Tuesday, dog owners who let their pooches relieve themselves in Phnom Penh’s most popular parks will be discouraged by signs, with fines to follow for those who fail to heed the warnings, according to City Hall.   ...

A new juvenile justice law designed to steer youth offenders toward restorative justice instead of incarceration was passed by the National Assembly on Monday after more than a decade in the works. ...

Familiar scenes of police ripping banners during heated scuffles with protesters marked the fourth “Black Monday,” as activists continued to call for the release of human rights workers who have been in Prey Sar prison for almost one month.   ...

Tensions flared yesterday between 20 Bunong ethnic minority villagers and a coffee company operating on an economic land concession in Mondulkiri’s Pech Chreada district, prompting local authorities to investigate.   ...

The Council of Ministers approved a draft law last week regulating and controlling organ donations and transplants in response to a World Health Organization (WHO) report which revealed that the lives of patients with non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes could be further endangered following ...

A group of 31 villagers of the Phnong ethnic minority have filed a petition to Mondulkiri provincial authorities to demand the removal of the local environment department director after rangers allegedly torched their homes during a wedding in Sen Monorom district. ...

The investigation and trial following the brutal attack on two opposition lawmakers by members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit last year has all the hallmarks of a “blatant cover-up,” according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday. ...

In what appears to be part of a wider push to cut down on smoking in the Kingdom, cigarette companies will have to publish pictorial and text warnings that take up 55 percent of each packet by the end of July, according to the Ministry ...

A draft construction law has been completed and will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers and may be enacted by the end of the year, but there needs to be a discussion and more feedback before sending it to the government to be ...

A Ministry of Defence staffer with the rank of major was arrested on Tuesday, allegedly while dealing drugs in Battambang’s Kamrieng district. ...

An opposition official in Kampot was arrested yesterday evening over his involvement in collecting thumbprints for a Royal petition calling for the release of detained human rights officials and politicians in the Kingdom. ...

Police who shut down a gathering of 30 people in a private home in Prey Veng province yesterday justified the action by saying the organisers had failed to notify the district governor in writing beforehand. ...

People smoking tobacco in offices, restaurants and other public spaces will have to indulge their habit in clearly demarcated smoking areas or both the smoker and establishment owner will face fines, the Ministry of Health announced. ...