Law and judiciary

The legal battle of 13 land rights activists from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood ended on Wednesday with the Supreme Court upholding their conviction for aggravated obstruction of public officials and illegal occupation. ...

Though the Kingdom’s total number of reported crimes was down in 2015, instances of robbery and armed robbery in some provinces noticeably increased, according to an annual National Police report. ...

The Health Ministry has yet to respond to a request from the Interior Ministry last week seeking assistance in dealing with drug abuse in the country’s prisons and rehabilitation centers, Interior Ministry secretary of state Nuth Sa An said yesterday. ...

Two village representatives in Kampong Speu who were detained for protesting against the actions of their provincial authority were released yesterday by the provincial court after Prime Minister Hun Sen sent two of his sons to help deal with the situation. ...

Police in Ratanakkiri province on Tuesday ordered rights group Adhoc to call off a planned workshop meant to inform local indigenous communities of their rights, claiming the NGO had failed to secure the necessary permission from authorities. ...

Cambodia’s controversial ambassador to South Korea, Suth Dina, has released a public plea to Prime Minister Hun Sen to safeguard his job, amid what appears to be an investigation by the Foreign Affairs Ministry into his office, it emerged yesterday. ...

Australian gaming firm Tabcorp on Tuesday confirmed that it was under investigation by Australian police over a possible bribe it paid in 2009 to a Cambodian consultancy connected to a sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

About 65 villagers from Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Srouch district handed out petitions yesterday urging the National Assembly to push the provincial court into releasing two of their leaders.​ ...

Preah Sihanouk provincial officials met on Monday to discuss an order from the national government to provide compensation for a number of families living and running businesses on O’Chheuteal Beach in Sihanoukville who are facing the threat of eviction. ...

The government announced a set of price caps on retail petroleum products yesterday based on the application of its new fuel-pricing mechanism. Sor Chandara ...

The Ministry of Interior on Friday threatened legal action against lawbreaking auto shops that work without a licence or illegally assemble vehicles from scrap parts. ...

After focusing their efforts on educating drivers about the traffic law for the past two and a half months, police will today begin strict enforcement of the new rules, imposing fines and punishments on offending motorists, the National Road Safety Committee announced on Friday. ...

The Kampot Provincial Court will continue to investigate three villagers and an NGO worker after they were arrested and released on Friday for allegedly setting up an illegal checkpoint to extort money from timber and firewood transporters in Kampot’s Chhouk district, according to officials. ...

Local rights groups have raised major concerns about Cambodia’s sweeping new Telecommunications Law, which gives the government virtually unchecked spying powers and criminalizes any electronic communication deemed to cause “national insecurity.” ...

Opposition lawmaker Kong Saphea – one of the two parliamentarians brutally beaten by anti-CNRP protesters outside of the National Assembly last year – has been summonsed to appear for questioning over a complaint regarding property stolen from him during the attack. ...

The National Committee for Road Traffic Safety announced that from Tuesday, traffic police will start intensifying their enforcement of the recently implemented traffic law after a two-month test period showed positive results. ...

A government anti-trafficking committee is in the final steps of drafting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to crack down on human trafficking between Cambodia and China, an official said yesterday. ...

In what one commentator described as “a bold step”, the Interior Ministry’s prisons department has seemingly admitted it has a drug problem, and last week sent a letter requesting the Health Ministry’s assistance in tackling it. ...

More than 250 Preah Vihear families who have been living under the threat of eviction since 2010 are to be allowed to keep their homes, according to a letter from the Interior Ministry obtained yesterday. ...

The CPP appears set to pass a controversial trade union law next month despite conceding it is “not 100 percent perfect” and failing to address a litany of objections from unions, employers and the opposition party. ...

A freight train traveling from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville plowed into a cement company truck crossing the tracks in Kampot province on Wednesday afternoon, leaving the truck driver and his assistant with minor injuries, police said Thursday. ...

More than 100 villagers from Chroy Changvar yesterday protested a draft sub-decree that would make Phnom Penh Municipality the legal owner of 280 hectares of land that are part of the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation’s $3 billion satellite city development. ...

More than 200 activists attempting to cycle from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to mark International Women’s Day were penned in by authorities Tuesday morning after pedaling less than 100 meters. ...

A task force made up of police and investigators from a child protection organization Thursday began searching in Siem Reap province for wanted Dutch pedophile Pieter Ceulen, according to a member of the team. ...