News
Lawmakers call for talks over Lor Peang land
The National Assembly’s Human Rights Committee has laid out its plan to mediate negations to settle a more than decade-long land dispute between villagers and a powerful development company in Kompong Chhnang province’s Lor Peang village. The bipartisan committee announced early this month that it would ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmakers-call-for-negotiations-over-land-in-lor-peang-67961/
As two prisons are built, use of funds is questioned
Samraong City, Oddar Meanchey province – In December, Kuy Bunsorn, director-general of the General Department of Prisons (GDP), announced that ground would be broken on two new prisons in Pailin and Oddar Meanchey provinces to alleviate chronic overcrowding. Mr. Bunsorn said that the Ministry of Finance ...
Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-two-prisons-are-built-use-of-funds-is-questioned-67582/
City Hall backtracks amid White Building outcry
With momentum gathering behind a movement to renovate rather than raze Phnom Penh’s famous White Building, City Hall on Thursday backtracked on its assertion earlier this week that the building was destined for demolition. On Tuesday, Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said the iconic apartment block ...
Hul Reaksmey and Chan Cheuk Yin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-backtracks-amid-white-building-outcry-67556/
Plan for airport faces resistance
Talks between officials in Preah Vihear province and local villagers whose land is in the way of a proposed domestic airport hit some turbulence on Tuesday, as homeowners bristled over the various forms of compensation being offered. ...
Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/plan-airport-faces-resistance
Koh Kong gov to bring petition to Say Sam Al
Koh Kong Governor Bun Leart has promised villagers evicted from their land by Chinese-owned Union Development Group that he will give their petition to Minister of Environment Say Sam Al today. ...
Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-gov-bring-petition-say-sam-al
KDC workers petition against the release of five villagers
Workers at the center of a land dispute between villagers in Kompong Chhnang province and a company owned by the wife of the mines and energy minister on Thursday pressed forward with a campaign against the release of five villagers who were imprisoned over violence ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kdc-workers-petition-against-the-release-of-five-villagers-67270/
Villagers questioned over dispute with senator
The Koh Kong Provincial Court questioned four villager representatives Tuesday over alleged violence and property damage in an ongoing land dispute with CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Koh Kong Special Economic Zone company. ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-questioned-over-dispute-with-senator-67200/
Amid overcrowding, inmates build new prison
Even within the country’s notoriously overcrowded prison system, inmates in this northern province live in particularly harsh conditions. Approximately 120 prisoners, including 16 women and three children, are held in four cells in the Oddar Meanchey provincial police headquarters. “In one cell we keep 20 or more ...
Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amid-overcrowding-inmates-build-new-prison-67129/
Striking factory workers thwart police arrests
Police in Kompong Chhnang province on Thursday were prevented from arresting workers and union officials outside a Samakki Meanchey district garment factory by a mob of irate protesters who pulled two of their colleagues out of a police car to thwart their arrests. About 3,000 employees ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/striking-factory-workers-thwart-police-arrests-66997/
Three Opposition Activists Remain in Detention After July Violence
Rights groups are calling for the release of three opposition activists who have been held in detention since violent clashes with security forces in July. The activists have been held despite a political deal last month between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/three-opposition-activists-remaon-in-detention-after-july-violence/2422001.html
Prison without water supply after broken pipe
Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison has been buying truckloads of water for inmates since a road construction crew broke the water pipe leading to the jail last week, officials said Sunday. ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prison-without-water-supply-after-broken-pipe-66703/
Fresh arrests for embattled KDC villagers
Three men embroiled in a land dispute with a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem were arrested Tuesday while marching with about 50 fellow villagers from Kompong Chhnang province’s Lor Peang village to Phnom Penh. The villagers planned to walk ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fresh-arrests-for-embattled-kdc-villagers-66343/
Beggars set for Prey Speu: city
After months of claiming that Phnom Penh’s notorious Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre had all but shut down, officials yesterday told the Post that the facility would be used in its latest efforts to rid the streets of “undesirables”. City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said that ...
Sen David and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/beggars-set-prey-speu-city
Ban lifted from Freedom Park
City Hall has lifted the ban on public assembly at Freedom Park, which was at the center of opposition protests over the last year and the ignition point for violent clashes that led to the arrests of a handful of opposition lawmakers. Shortly after the clashes, ...
Heng Reaksmey and Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/ban-lifted-from-cambodia-freedom-park/1973078.html
Activists sentenced
Nine Prey Lang forest activists received suspended one-year prison sentences at Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday and were ordered to pay $1,250 to a businesswoman whose hectare of cassava they were accused of uprooting, the defendants’ lawyer said. Yong Panith – who represents Mao Thea, 37; ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activists-sentenced
‘Acts of violence’ won’t be tolerated: premier
Prime Minister Hun Sen warned yesterday that people who instigate and commit acts of violence will face the full force of the law. In characteristically cryptic language, he told thousands of students on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich that his government would not tolerate violence. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98acts-violence%E2%80%99-won%E2%80%99t-be-tolerated-premier
Deposit for brides in China called into question
Human rights groups on Sunday criticized as inadequate a government proposal, announced on Friday, to require single women to deposit $10,000 into a Chinese bank before they are allowed to visit China as tourists, a move meant to curb the trafficking of Cambodian woman to ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/deposit-for-brides-in-china-called-into-question-65605/
Platoon commander removed for alleged wood smuggling
Military officials in Banteay Meanchey province have removed a local platoon commander from his post for alleged wood smuggling after he evaded detention by fellow soldiers earlier in the week, but it remained unclear whether he would be fired or prosecuted. Phork Sambath, a deputy military ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/platoon-commander-removed-for-alleged-wood-smuggling-65505/
Tougher ELC oversight pledged
In what is the government’s latest pledge to hold tycoons and foreign investors to account for their business practices, the Ministry of Environment will begin assessing existing and proposed economic land concessions (ELCs), cancelling or rejecting those that have negative social or environment impacts, a ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tougher-elc-oversight-pledged
Officials raid villager’s home in KDC dispute
Police and court officials on Wednesday searched the home of villager Oum Sophy, who has been outspoken opponent of the well-connected KDC company as it has tried to push her and dozens of her neighbors off their land in Kompong Chhnang province. The raid came after ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-raid-villagers-home-in-kdc-dispute-64802/
In Cambodia, fake orphanages soak up donations by duping tourists
Just before the sun sets over the enchanting Angkor temples in northern Cambodia, a group of children gets ready for their big show. Every day, according to fliers at restaurants and hotels around town, the children perform an hour-long “charity show” for tourists visiting the ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20140721/in-cambodia-fake-orphanages-soak-up-donations-by-duping-tourists
Violent Clashes Break Out Again at KDC Site
Violent skirmishes erupted again between workers and villagers at the restive KDC development site Thursday, with both sides blaming the other for using weapons and instigating the fracas. Clashes last occurred at the site on July 7, when about a hundred police were dispatched to ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/violent-clashes-break-out-again-at-kdc-land-dispute-site-64421/
Cambodian authorities take two more opposition MPs into custody
Thursday while a court summoned its deputy chief for questioning following violent clashes when party supporters tried to force the reopening of Freedom Park in the capital. Elected members of parliament Nut Rumduol and Long Ry were taken into custody by policemen in plain clothes from ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/violence-07172014203608.html
Cambodian Court Orders New Probe Into Dissident’s Call to Shoot ‘Dictator’
A Phnom Penh court on Thursday agreed to a prosecution request to consider filing more serious charges against a U.S.-based Cambodia dissident Sourn Serey Ratha accused of instigating an armed revolt against Prime Minister Hun Sen. Sourn Serey Ratha, who leads the Khmer People Power Movement ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/court-07102014203809.html