Law and judiciary
Court sentences land activist brothers to five years in prison
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has sentenced three community activists to five years in jail for clearing trees on state land claimed by several dozen local farmers. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-sentences-land-activist-brothers-to-five-years-in-prison-95951/
Student detained over Facebook ‘bomb threat’
A university student in Siem Reap province was detained and sent to court yesterday after allegedly posting a death threat against Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng on the social networking site Facebook.Tao Savoeun, a 26-year-old graduate of the University of South-East Asia, located in Siem ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/student-detained-over-facebook-bomb-threat
Trial of Sok Hour to begin on Friday
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday will hear the case against opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour, who was arrested and saw his parliamentary immunity bypassed last month over a Facebook post. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trial-sok-hour-begin-friday
Migrant workers demand passports, money
About 50 migrant workers who were part of a group that was abandoned at the Thai border by a recruitment agency last week gathered outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday to ask for the return of their passports and the fees they paid ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/migrant-workers-demand-passports-money-95967/
Graft czar denies interfering in murder probe
Anti-Corruption Unit chairman Om Yentieng on Monday denied a claim made in court last week that he had exceeded his authority by ordering the bodyguard of ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei to search the home of a murder suspect’s parents. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/graft-czar-denies-interfering-in-murder-probe-95806/
Police get meth pills in sting, but dealers escape
Two undercover police officers in Stung Treng province on Monday attempted to carry out a drug sting, but ended up letting five methamphetamine dealers escape into the forest, according to the provincial anti-drug police chief. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-get-meth-pills-in-sting-but-dealers-escape-95797/
Body of foreigner found in suitcase
The unidentified body of a male foreign national, stuffed into a suitcase with only the head sticking out, was found by local fishermen in Kep province yesterday morning after washing up on the side of a canal near a mangrove forest. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/body-foreigner-found-suitcase
Weekend marked by spate of drunken shootings
A day after a military officer fired off a round from his handgun at a Phnom Penh restaurant, another officer and a government bodyguard were involved in separate drunken shootings on Sunday, police officials said Monday. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/weekend-marked-by-spate-of-drunken-shootings-95795/
Vietnamese women stand trial for drug trafficking
A Vietnamese woman on trial for attempting to send pseudoephedrine to Australia last year told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday that another woman charged in the case paid her to mail the drug, while her co-defendant denied the claim. ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vietnamese-women-stand-trial-for-drug-trafficking-95812/
Life sentence in child murder
Koh Kong provincial court yesterday handed a life sentence to a man who murdered a toddler in April, with investigators saying the killing was an act of revenge following a disagreement with one of the child’s parents. ...
Charles Parkinson and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/life-sentence-child-murder
Gov’t hands down ruling in market dispute
A bitter dispute over the development of the main market in Ratanakkiri province’s Banlung City, which has pitted the city’s governor against a well-connected CPP lawmaker, was resolved by the Council of Ministers earlier this month in favor of the complainant, a wealthy businessman who ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-hands-down-ruling-in-market-dispute-95810/
Groups concerned over increasing violations of Constitution
Rights and democracy groups say Cambodians are not being protected by the constitution, which has been routinely violated by all three branches of government. Over 170,000 families across the country were hurt by land disputes in 2014, according to a new a report by NGO ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/groups-concerned-over-increasingly-violations-of-constitution/2982483.html
Rights group: constitutional violation root of Cambodia land disputes
Rights advocates in Cambodia allege government violations of the country’s constitution are largely responsible for land disputes harming tens of thousands of families. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voanews.com/content/land-rights-group-cambodia-constitution/2983023.html
IBA denies political influence claims
The Cambodian Bar Association has refuted a scathing critique of its independence and ethics by the International Bar Association (IBA) that questioned Cambodia’s membership in the global group, calling the assessment an unfounded “insult.”Following a visit to the country by a team of legal experts, ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bar-association-denies-political-influence-claims-95607/
Journalist among 13 arrested with meth
A newspaper journalist was among 13 suspects arrested for methamphetamine possession in Phnom Penh yesterday morning, police said. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/journalist-among-13-arrested-meth
Cambodia welcomes same-sex marriage, gov’t spokesman says
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan expressed support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Cambodia yesterday, responding to Nepal’s new constitution – which has been described as the first in Asia to enshrine protection for the rights of LGBT people. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16143/cambodia-welcomes-same-sex-marriage--gov---t-spokesman-says/
Sim card crackdown to focus on telecom firms, not vendors
From a simple stall on a street corner in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district, Khuon Andy sells SIM cards, between 40 and 60 per month. Half of his customers provide identification to make their purchase, and half of them do not. ...
Khy Sovuthy and Meghan Tribe
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sim-card-crackdown-to-focus-on-telecom-firms-not-vendors-95437/
Police raid 3 Ratanakkiri gold mines
Police on Thursday raided three illegal gold mines in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district believed to have been operated by undocumented Vietnamese migrants, but made no arrests as all the camps had been abandoned, possibly just hours earlier. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-raid-3-ratanakkiri-gold-mines-95428/
Kampot villagers say politician not involved in land dispute
Two villagers released on bail by the Kampot Provincial Court on Wednesday on charges of illegally clearing part of a social land concession for retired soldiers said Thursday they would not stop clearing the plot. ...
New UN envoy wraps up first mission to Cambodia with call for judicial reform
The new United Nations envoy to Cambodia concluded her first official visit to the country Thursday by calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to ensure the independence of the judiciary amid a host of land and labor disputes she said are encroaching on the ...
Yeang Socheametta
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/envoy-09242015151717.html
Parties near agreement on draft commune council law
Leaders from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) will continue discussing a draft law on commune council elections next week, members of the party said yesterday. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16100/parties-near-agreement-on-draft-commune-council-law/
Sok Hour’s case made
Hong Sok Hour’s attorney on Monday submitted a five-page legal document making the case for charges of forgery and incitement against the Sam Rainsy Party senator to be dropped by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sok-hours-case-made
Outbreak of pig disease ‘over’
Cambodia is now free of “blue-ear” pig disease, which had infected more than 4,000 pigs in five provinces last month, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. ...
James Reddick
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16102/outbreak-of-pig-disease----over---/
Accused British fraudster thrown out of court
A British businessman jailed for more than 2 1/2 years without conviction was removed from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on the first day of his trial Wednesday after accusing the court of gross malpractice and threatening to walk out himself. ...
Matt Blomberg and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/accused-british-fraudster-thrown-out-of-court-95282/