Prosecutors, Police Discuss Closer Cooperation

Court prosecutors and judicial police held an open meeting at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday to discuss the need for closer cooperation between the two groups in arresting and prosecuting criminals. Appeal Court prosecutor general Ouk Savuth said the meeting was called due to the growing frustration of court prosecutors toward mistakes made by members of the judicial police—a special force of officers that undergo training to implement court orders. … Some judicial police have been acting unlawfully by unilaterally deciding to arrest suspects upon the receipt of complaints from aggrieved members of public and then bringing them to the court for trial, Mr. Savuth said. He stressed that judicial police could only arrest people on the express orders of a court, and that members of the public had to direct their complaints to the court itself. … Despite the new laws, [Phnom Penh Municipal Court president] Mr. [Chiv] Keng said, some judicial police were outright refusing court orders and still detaining suspects whom the court had ordered to be released. “There have been a few misunderstandings, because when the court has handed down its interpretation, they [judicial police] did not believe the court,” he said. …

Eang Mengleng
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