Law and judiciary

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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.  ...

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 ...

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 ...

Rights advocates in Cambodia allege government violations of the country’s constitution are largely responsible for land disputes harming tens of thousands of families. ...

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, ...

A newspaper journalist was among 13 suspects arrested for methamphetamine possession in Phnom Penh yesterday morning, police said. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

Environmental groups yesterday urged the government to seek greater legal clarity among the Mekong River countries about how they should share its resources. ...

Two villagers jailed earlier this month over a land dispute in Kampot province that authorities blame on League for Democracy Party president Khem Veasna were released on bail Wednesday, hours after Mr. Veasna told the media at a press conference that he had lost contact ...

Vice president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokha held talk with visiting new UN Human Right Envoy Rhona Smith at the National Assembly today. ...

Phnom Penh officials announced on Monday that the city had finalized its offer of compensation to 154 families who have spent years protesting their eviction from the Borei Keila neighborhood. ...

A group of 90 disgruntled workers protested Tuesday outside the office of a recruitment company that they say abandoned most of them at a border checkpoint on Saturday morning and cheated them out of the hundreds of dollars they had paid to work in Thailand. ...