Law and judiciary

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. ...

Research by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIPF) found helmet use by child motorbike passengers was still low in January despite the government’s much-touted Traffic Law, with observers blaming poor enforcement. ...

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.   ...

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 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 ...

An Interior Ministry official who fatally shot a Phnom Penh village chief, his son and grandson during a bloodbath provoked by a petty financial dispute pleaded self-defense during his trial on Wednesday.   ...

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. ...

Cambodia’s new Traffic Law has been a runaway success for road safety, Interior Minister Sar Kheng claimed yesterday, hours after a collision between two trucks carrying garment workers left two dead and nearly 60 injured.   ...

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. ...

Five of the 11 members of the Boeung Kak lake community who were beaten by police while peacefully protesting at Wat Phnom in 2013 and later filed a lawsuit against district officials were called to testify at the Ministry of Interior yesterday. ...

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. ...

A military officer convicted of fraud and sentenced to one year in prison in October is still em­ployed by the National Defense Uni­versity (NDU), the school con­firmed this week, despite the fact that the officer’s co-conspirator is now behind bars.   ...

As yet another deadline passed, right-hand drive vehicle owners will now have until June 12 to register their vehicles with the Ministry of Transport and Public Works or run the risk of being on the wrong side of the law, according to a ministry statement ...

The owner of a luxury timber shop in Phnom Penh was fined 64.189 million riel (about $16,047) in absentia yesterday after being convicted of transporting, trading and stocking timber without authorization from the Forest Administration, according to court officials.     ...

All beaches in Sihanoukville must be fully open to public access, including the currently guest-only beach in front of the Sokha Beach Resort, the National Committee for Cambodia Bay Management and Development decided at a meeting on Monday.   ...