Human rights

Khmer Power Party head and former convicted “terrorist” Sourn Serey Ratha was arrested yesterday over a Facebook post criticising the deployment of troops to the Laos border by suggesting that grunts in the field would suffer while the military’s leaders hung back to enjoy “money” ...

Political commentator Kim Sok was sentenced to 18 months in prison this afternoon on charges of incitement and defamation for appearing to suggest that the ruling party was behind the killing of popular analyst Kem Ley. ...

As the Apsara Authority knocked down seven illegal structures in the Angkor Archeological Park yesterday, other residents expressed confusion over why they were first granted permission to build homes but are now being evicted. ...

In a decision roundly criticised by rights observers, the Appeal Court yesterday upheld a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Boeung Kak activist Tep Vanny for her alleged involvement in a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s residence in Phnom Penh that turned violent. ...

UN Special Rapporteur Rhona Smith kicked off an official visit to the Kingdom yesterday by raising concerns over ruling party officials’ increased use of violent rhetoric, singling out Social Affairs Minister Vong Soth’s recent threats to bludgeon protesters with bamboo rods, during a meeting with ...

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia will pay her fourth visit to the country from August 8 to 18 to examine children’s rights, among other issues. ...

Jailed activist Tep Vanny yesterday maintained her innocence and called on the judge to overturn her conviction in a hearing at the Appeal Court yesterday, as about 80 protesters demonstrated for her release outside. ...

The Apsara Authority on Wednesday reported it had approved more than 500 home construction applications inside Angkor Archaeological Park in the first six months of the year, even as it prepared to raze hundreds of illegally constructed houses inside the sprawling complex. ...

The director of the government body that manages the Angkor Archaeological Park on Wednesday conceded that the hundreds of families they are now struggling to evict were allowed to move into the park illegally in the lead-up to the June 4 commune elections, though he ...

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision to deny jailed political analyst Kim Sok’s request for bail, also rejecting his request to summons Prime Minister Hun Sen, the plaintiff in the two defamation and incitement cases that landed the analyst in detention. ...

Hundreds of people could have their homes demolished by security forces in order to preserve Angkorian heritage following a meeting between the Apsara Authority and the Siem Reap provincial government on Friday. ...

Fifteen people from Siem Reap yesterday delivered a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet claiming they were left out of a recent land-titling drive in their village, though local authorities said the group had only settled in the area once the titling began. ...

After 427 days behind bars, the Adhoc 5 have been enjoying their first weekend of liberty after being released from prison on bail on Thursday night. ...

In a surprise move, four human rights workers and an election official, collectively known as the “Adhoc 5”, were released from pretrial detention yesterday evening, 427 days after they were taken into custody on bribery charges relating to an opposition sex scandal. ...

Authorities in Siem Reap province have stopped negotiating with hundreds of families who recently built homes and shops illegally inside the Angkor Archaeological Park, and Defense Minister Tea Banh said they would start razing the structures without their consent. ...

Representatives from housing NGOs yesterday called on the government to do more to help disadvantaged communities access affordable housing. They were speaking at the National Housing Forum, hosted by Habitat for Humanity Cambodia (HHC) at the Intercontinental Hotel, which brought together  NGOs and Land Management Minister ...

The Unesco representative in Cambodia has expressed support for the Apsara Authority’s actions to prevent the spread of illegal constructions in the Angkor Archaeological Park. ...

Sixteen families in Kandal have accused a purported Interior Ministry official of sending soldiers to intimidate them to take their land, though the official denied the claims and said no such dispute existed at all. ...

CNRP President Kem Sokha has promised opposition supporters among the Cham Muslim community that any government he leads would put an end to political harassment from the community’s pro-CPP leaders, whom he claimed pressured followers not to join his party. ...

The 13-month investigation into five current and former human rights workers known as the ‘Adhoc 5’ has ended, a court spokesman said on Wednesday, paving the way for a trial in a case widely condemned as being unjust and politically motivated. ...

Cambodia Youth Party leader Pich Sros filed a complaint today at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court against Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Kem Sokha in response to the latter’s encouragement of voters not to “waste” their votes on small parties. ...

The government body charged with managing the Angkor Archaeological Park on Monday started tearing down the first of more than 500 homes and shophouses illegally built within the park in the weeks before the June 4 commune elections. ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the government’s harshest critics, on Tuesday condemned the June 4 commune elections as “neither free nor fair” and called for urgent reforms to safeguard next year’s national election. ...

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak’s pre-election warning that some NGOs and their leaders were being watched for illegally aiding the opposition was a threat designed to frighten them, General Sopheak said on Wednesday, as civil society groups warily condemned the statements. ...