Law and judiciary
Ethnic villagers protest Cambodian court questioning of forest activists
Around 100 ethnic Phnong villagers held a protest Tuesday in support of five fellow residents questioned at a court in northeastern Cambodia’s Kratie province over “illegal logging” amid a land dispute with a Vietnamese rubber company they say has encroached on their community forest. ...
Chin Chetha and Men Sothy
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/protest-09222015180120.html
Schoolroom slap gets three months
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced a father who slapped a high school student across the face in a fit of rage to one year in prison, reduced to three months, with the rest suspended. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/schoolroom-slap-gets-three-months
Officials set for murder probe
The prime minister has selected 14 senior officials – all members of the ruling party – to probe the cold-case murders of three union leaders, including Free Trade Union (FTU) president Chea Vichea, though scepticism remains about the timing and motivation behind the new investigation.According ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-set-murder-probe
Cop duo sentenced to 10 years in meth bust
Four people – two of them police officers – were sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for selling nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine to an undercover police officer in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district earlier this year. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cop-duo-sentenced-10-years-meth-bust
23 trafficked loggers repatriated from Thailand
Thai police on Monday repatriated 23 Cambodian men who were tricked into traveling to Thailand to log rosewood, according to an official. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/23-trafficked-loggers-repatriated-from-thailand-95008/
Three jailed for clearing state land released
Three villagers arrested for clearing state land to cultivate banana trees in Kompong Thom province have been released on bail, but remain under judicial supervision, according to a court document obtained Monday. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-jailed-for-clearing-state-land-released-95021/
Activist trio’s bail appeal thwarted
The Appeal Court yesterday denied bail to three environmental activists arrested in mid-August over their opposition to sand dredging in Koh Kong province. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activist-trios-bail-appeal-thwarted
Death toll on roads at more than 1,800 so far
More than 1,800 people have died on Cambodia’s roads so far this year, representing an almost 4 per cent increase in casualties compared to the same period in 2014. ...
Chhay Channyda and Charles Parkinson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/death-toll-roads-more-1800-so-far
‘Terrorists’ pardoned
Three members of the dissident Khmer People Power Movement (KPPM) serving sentences at Banteay Meanchey Provincial Prison have been pardoned, just days ahead of the scheduled return of the group’s self-exiled leader.The pardon for Serey Bunlong, 29; Seng Sokmeng, 31; and Um Phirun, 27, which ...
Chhay Channyda and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/terrorists-pardoned
Three more ‘terrorists’ pardoned
The government has pardoned and released three men convicted alongside self-exiled dissident Sourn Serey Ratha in January on terrorism charges that were characterized by rights groups as baseless and politically motivated. ...
Zsombor Peter and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-more-terrorists-pardoned-95004/
Dispute could ‘spook investors’
Seung Hyung Lee did not know that blocking an excavator with his body would be part of his job description when he came to work in Cambodia. The senior vice-president of developer World City, however, found himself doing just that last week, when construction equipment ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15992/dispute-could----spook-investors---/
Eight Nigerians get 10 years for trafficking meth
Eight Nigerians were sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday following a sting operation last year that culminated with an undercover officer purchasing 100 grams of crystal methamphetamine from one of the eight. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eight-nigerians-get-10-years-for-trafficking-meth-94835/
Gov’t tackles Social Media
Social networks are a double-edged sword when it comes to the dissemination of news and information according to experts at a social network ethics and morality workshop yesterday. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15954/gov---t-tackles-social-media/
Police arrest, release activist in Koh Kong
Police in Koh Kong province arrested and released an activist on Saturday who helped families organize a roadblock against a Chinese company they accuse of stealing their farms. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-arrest-release-activist-in-koh-kong-94857/
Four arrested in raids on timber warehouses
Four people were arrested and more than 1,000 pieces of illegally logged timber seized in Mondolkiri province during a coordinated series of raids on three warehouses over the past three days, an official said Sunday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/four-arrested-in-raids-on-timber-warehouses-94855/
Legal experts say justice ministry granted excessive power over judiciary
International legal experts say a group of laws recently passed in Cambodia to reform the judiciary does little to ensure a balance of powers. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/legal-experts-say-justice-ministry-granted-excessive-power-over-judiciary/2967651.html
Group finds judiciary wracked with corruption
The human rights wing of the International Bar Association has found Cambodia’s judiciary is riddled with problems that corrode citizens’ rights to a fair trial, including widespread graft. ...
Pav Suy and James Reddick
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15863/group-finds-judiciary-wracked-with-corruption/
Sok Hour denied bail again by Appeal Court
The Appeal Court has again denied bail to imprisoned Sam Rainsy Party Senator Hong Sok Hour, ruling the lawmaker poses a security and flight risk, according to the defendant’s lawyer. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sok-hour-denied-bail-again-appeal-court
Legal group urges review of Cambodia’s bar
The human rights arm of the International Bar Association (IBA) is recommending that the membership of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (BAKC) in the IBA be reviewed, raising the prospect of ejection in a scathing new report on the country’s judicial system. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/legal-group-urges-review-of-cambodias-bar-94684/
Drivers flee after truck crash injures 75 workers
More than 70 garment workers in Svay Rieng province were injured on Wednesday evening, four seriously, when two trucks transporting them home from work collided during heavy rain, police said Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/drivers-flee-after-truck-crash-injures-75-workers-94682/
Three men jailed for swindling hundreds in land scheme
Three men were charged with fraud in Kratie province on Wednesday after they were arrested for convincing more than 400 people from four provinces to give them money to secure pieces of land, police said Thursday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-men-jailed-for-swindling-hundreds-in-land-scheme-94694/
Reporter to spend 2 years in prison for blackmail
A reporter for TV9 was sentenced to two years in prison by the Kampot Provincial Court on Wednesday after being found guilty of attempting to blackmail a deputy provincial governor last year, court officials said. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reporter-to-spend-2-years-in-prison-for-blackmail-94494/
South Korean firm faces off with tycoon Kok An over land
A group of South Koreans and Cambodians employed by a Korean developer faced off with an excavator and a bulldozer clearing land for a wealthy local businessman in a dispute over 6 hectares of land in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district on Wednesday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/south-korean-firm-faces-off-with-tycoon-kok-an-over-land-94483/
Increased security may cut off Chinese minority’s escape route
Nearly a month after the deadly bombing at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Cambodia’s military police spokesman Eng Hy said police have increased security at potential terrorist targets in Phnom Penh, such as Aeon Mall, aiming to prevent a similar tragedy in Cambodia. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15817/increased-security-may-cut-off-chinese-minority---s-escape-route/