Law and judiciary

Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky, who was deported to Moscow last month to face trial on serious fraud charges, could be allowed to return to Cambodia in five years’ time, an immigration official said Sunday. ...

In anticipation of World No Tobacco Day on Sunday, Phnom Penh’s City Hall called upon tobacco companies to stop the illegal advertisement of cigarettes and for district officials to start enforcing non-smoking zones, in an event at Wat Phnom on Friday. ...

A couple was arrested and sent to court yesterday after attempting to sell $38,000 in fake diamond jewellery to a gold vendor in Preah Sihanouk province, according to provincial military police.​ ...

Almost 1,000 Cambodian soldiers have been deployed along the Vietnamese border in Ratanakkiri province in an effort to combat crimes including “illegal immigration”, military officials said yesterday. ...

A Cambodian migrant worker was shot dead by a Thai foreman at the construction site where he was working last week in Thailand’s Chachoengsao province, a border official said Sunday. ...

A lawyer for Russian developer Sergei Polonsky has filed a complaint with the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court accusing the son of his former business partner of defamation for disseminating a letter that claims Mr. Polonsky paid officials $250,000 to imprison his father. ...

The Tourism Ministry has downgraded the one-year operating licenses of two hotels where children recently drowned in swimming pools in an effort to make them compensate the victims’ families and carry out safety upgrades. ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia re-elected Van Sou Ieng as chairman—a position he has held for nearly two decades—at its annual general meeting on Saturday but approved a new two-term limit on the two-year post. ...

After five months in jail, a woman whose family is embroiled in a bitter land dispute with tycoon Khun Sear was released on bail from Prey Sar prison on Friday, though the fight between the two parties remains unresolved. ...

Two companies collecting commission from tourist-boat operators on the Tonle Sap lake in Siem Reap province have been closed down on orders from Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to the provincial governor. ...

Russian businessman Nikolai Doroshenko, who was jailed in March on fraud charges relating to a dispute with his former investment partner, Sergei Polonsky, will on Monday receive a decision from the Appeal Court about his latest request to be freed on bail. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday resumed its questioning of Major General Thong Sarath, a Defense Ministry official charged with orchestrating the murder of tycoon Ung Meng Chue in November. ...

Officials at Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison have ignored a Supreme Court order permitting the bail of activist Ly Seav Minh, whose family is embroiled in a long-running land dispute with a politically connected company, her lawyer said yesterday. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday morning denied a bail request from former municipal penal police officer Hang Vuthy and in the afternoon retried him over his role in a 2003 conspiracy to murder national military police commander Sao Sokha. ...

Two more people have tested positive for HIV in Battambang province’s Roka commune this month, bringing the total number infected to 272 since an outbreak of the virus was first detected in December, a health official said Wednesday. ...

The son of a wealthy developer who was charged last week with assaulting the son of timber magnate Try Pheap in Phnom Penh was transferred on Tuesday from the minimum-security PJ prison to the maximum-security Prey Sar, officials said Wednesday. ...

Police in Svay Rieng province said Wednesday that they had yet to identify any suspects in the armed robbery of a mobile-payment kiosk and currency exchange business in Romeas Hek district that left one man dead. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday heard the retrial of Hang Vuthy – former right-hand man of disgraced ex-municipal police chief Heng Pov – in the case of the 2003 attempted murder of National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha. ...

Officials in a northeast Cambodian province on Wednesday rescued a family accused of being sorcerers by villagers who sought to take revenge on the father they blamed killing 10 people, local authorities said. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court will on Wednesday resume questioning Major General Thong Sarath, who stands accused of orchestrating the murder of tycoon Ung Meng Chue and was apprehended last week after more than four months on the run. ...

Authorities in Preah Sihanouk province yesterday said they arrested two foreign nationals for overstaying their visas, at least one of whose visa, they said, is two years out of date. ...

Members of a forest community and local officials in Preah Vihear province have renewed a legal battle over a small patch of woodland in Rovieng district after the villagers last year accused the officials and a landowner of illegally profiting from the protected area. ...

Although the long-awaited Land Traffic Law was passed by the National Assembly in December, a police official said Tuesday that the government would not begin enforcing it for another five or six months. The law is set to bring tougher penalties for many traffic offenses—including drunk ...

The governor of Preah Sihanouk province said Tuesday that he will delay the removal of 32 food vendors from O’Chheuteal Beach after reading—on Facebook—a letter purportedly issued to him by the National Assembly’s human rights commission asking him to hold off. ...