Witness Says Khmer Rouge Forced Her to Have Abortion

by George Wright | November 29, 2016

A former Khmer Rouge ministry official told the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday that she was forced to have an abortion after her husband was purged from the party.
Boeth Boeun was testifying in a segment focusing on the roles of the accused—the Khmer Rouge’s second-in-command Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan—in the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea era.

Threat to Expel U.N. Human Rights Office Riles Cambodia

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) shakes hands with new Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon (R) during a handover ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh, April 5, 2016

Kicking the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights out of Cambodia is raising worries among the country’s citizens that they will have no place to turn if the rights watchdog no longer has a place in the country.

“Cambodia will be a more authoritarian country without the U.N. office,” a rickshaw driver named Chhun Oeun told RFA’s Khmer Service. “Even now, with the U.N. office here, several human rights activists have been arrested, beaten, and jailed. I cannot imagine how much worse the situation will be if there is no such office.”

Am Sam Ath, a technical coordinator for human rights group Licadho, told RFA that closing the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia would be a loss for the entire nation as it will lose foreign aid and international respect.

Plans Floated For $100M Underwater Aquarium

by Kang Sothear | November 28, 2016

The government wants to build a $100 million underwater aquarium along one of the country’s major rivers and is looking to Japan to foot the bill as part of efforts to protect the environment and attract tourists, according to senior officials.

In a post to his Facebook page on Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the plans, which he said were discussed during a meeting in his office building with Takahashi Fumiaki, president of the Japan-Cambodia Association, and Yamada Sohiko, an architect and potential developer.

Foreign minister's ‘bullying’ of UN office decried

Wan-Hea Lee, country representative of the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks during a press conference in Phnom Penh last month. Hong Menea

Mon, 28 November 2016

Jack Davies

Observers yesterday characterised a threat by Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon to close the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) field office in Cambodia as a dangerous act of brinkmanship, with many calling for donors to take a stand.

OHCHR’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government expired last December. Since then, the government has been demanding a controversial rewording of the memorandum placing an emphasis on what it views as an established diplomatic doctrine of non-interference.
Earlier this month, in response to remarks by OHCHR country representative Wan-Hea Lee reported in the media, Sokhon issued a letter saying the human rights office’s activities were “not legitimate” while the MoU was expired.

Hun Sen Says New Border Map Will Be ‘Accurate’

by Kang Sothear | November 28, 2016

Prime Minister Hun Sen took to Facebook on Friday and Saturday to explain why Cambodia was asking France to draw up a bigger version of the colonial-era map the government is constitutionally bound to use to demarcate its disputed border with Vietnam, saying the new map will be more accurate.

Mr. Hun Sen used his busy Facebook page last week to announce that Cambodia and Vietnam had just agreed to ask France to turn the so-called Bonne map mandated in the Constitution—drawn at a scale of 1:100,000—into a bigger version at a scale of 1:50,000.

Fugitive Was Working With Australian Police by Janelle Retka | November 21, 2016

A Cambodian police officer takes a selfie, later released online, with Guido Eglitis, center, after he was arrested in Siem Reap province on October 24, 2015.

An Australian fugitive who recently finished a year-long prison sentence in Siem Reap province for stealing a passport and camera while posing as an Interpol agent was working at the behest of an Australian police detective, emails show.

Guido Eglitis, 69, a private investigator who went by the alias James An, was arrested and charged with robbing British national David Scotcher, then the director of Learn4Life school, in October of last year.

Australian Founder of Surrogacy Firm Arrested After Ban

by Phan Soumy | November 21, 2016

Less than a month after a ban was announced on surrogate pregnancies, an Australian and Cambodian nurse and Commerce Ministry official were arrested by anti-human trafficking police in Phnom Penh on Friday evening for operating a surrogacy clinic, officials said on Sunday.

Keo Thea, chief of the city’s anti-human trafficking bureau, said that Australian national Tammy Davis-Charles, 49, who is listed as director of the Fertility Solutions PGD clinic, was detained on Russian Boulevard while she was traveling toward Phnom Penh International Airport after being monitored for 10 months.

Cambodian PM Hun Sen Congratulates Trump on Election Victory

FILE - Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 during the inauguration of first-Japanese private hospital Sunrise in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district. ( Leng Len/VOA Khmer)

In a shock result that contradicted months of polling data and media consensus, Trump will take up residency in the White House with Republican majorities in the Senate and Congress.

PHNOM PENH —  Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cambodia’s senior opposition leader on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump on winning the US presidential election.

“I would like to congratulate His Excellency Donald Trump for achieving victory in the US presidential election,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Court Denies Bail for Jailed Rights Workers, Election Official

FILE - Prison authority push Ny Sokha, Adhoc's head of monitoring, into a car after the appeals court had announced its verdict on September 02, 2016. (Kann Veichika/VOA Khmer)

The Court of Appeals denied the bail request, which was made on a number of grounds, including affects on the defendants’ health, after a brief hearing.

PHNOM PENH —  A Cambodian court on Friday turned down a bail request from four human rights workers and an election official who were jailed earlier this year on corruption-related charges.

Activist Denied Bail, Calls for Security Camera Footage to Be Released

Ms. Tep Vanny, Beung Kok land rights activist, is escorted by police officers at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh, on Thursday, November 17, 2016. (Kann Vicheika/VOA Khmer)

19 November 2016  VOA Khmer  Kann Vicheika

Ms. Tep Vanny, Beung Kok land rights activist, is escorted by police officers at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh, on Thursday, November 17, 2016. (Kann Vicheika/VOA Khmer)
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North Korea Condemns UN’s Criticism of Cambodia

by Colin Meyn | November 12, 2016

A senior North Korean diplomat has seized on the current dispute between the U.N.’s human rights office and Ministry of Foreign Af­fairs to blast the U.N. for its regular criticism of Cambodia’s woeful hu­man rights record.

Hwang Chol, a deputy director in North Korea’s Foreign Affairs Min­istry, rebuked the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Hu­man Rights (OHCHR) in Cambo­dia in an interview with the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Reiterating a statement released by Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry ear­lier this month, he said the U.N.’s human rights body was violating the “principle of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs” in its work in Cambodia.

Ahead of Trump Presidency, Mixed Feelings in Cambodian America

The Cambodian community in Atlanta has struggled with high unemployment and low access to education and healthcare.

WASHINGTON —  Cambodian-Americans have expressed hopes that President-elect Donald Trump can address their economic and social concerns and strengthen US foreign policy towards Phnom Penh.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has voiced his approval at Trumps victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, along with a number of other authoritarian world leaders, prompting analysts to worry that a Trump presidency could reshape foreign policy to downplay human rights concerns.

Nem Chhoeung, president of the Khmer Town Association in Atlanta, GA, said he was concerned, “especially for minority groups like ours.”

“We are concerned about more deportation of immigrants, because he seems to be tough on that,” he said.

Donald Trump shot dead by Muslim woman on stage at rally in USA (Hoax)

By The Southern Daily South Africa -

August 15, 2016

New York: A report which has surfaced online together with convincing imagery suggests that Donald Trump has been shot dead in the USA where he was addressing a campaign rally. The report is however a hoax.

According to our sources within the Republican Party in the USA, the report is malicious false, and is pure satire.

The report aims to inflame relations between Republicans and Muslims, as Trump has repeatedly accussed Muslims of being terrorists.

No major news outlets are carrying the same story either.
The report below first appeared online, before going viral.

A chilling Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today is that US presidential candidate Donald Trump has been targeted for death by either an individual or group who are in possession of a micro electromagnetic pulse (EMP) “device/weapon” that over the past month has twice been detected being used in the United States against him.

According to report,Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been shot twice and has survived the gun shots as he is said to be currently recovering well at Livingstone Medical Center.

”A 24-year-old Muslim man just came from nowhere and shouted ”its now time for revenge” before he shot Donald Trump twice,resulting in him falling to the ground.”, said an eye-witness.
”We told him to stop preaching hatred and he never listened,now he has just tasted own medicine”,said Hillary Clinton during a BBC news interview.

According to reports,the 24 year old Muslim man (name withheld) was later shot and killed by Mr Trump’s bodyguards soon after he shot Mr Trump.

Source : Online

Inactivity Defines Kem Ley Murder Inquiry

by Khuon Narim and George Wright | November 10, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

ANGKOR CHUM DISTRICT, Siem Reap province – Authorities say they are continuing to investigate the murder of political analyst Kem Ley, who was shot dead in Phnom Penh four months ago today in what many believe was a political assassination.
But here in the home commune of the suspected killer, Oeuth Ang, one gets the sense that police are doing nothing.

Oeuth Ang is escorted through the Phnom Penh municipal police headquarters during a press conference on July 10. (Khem Sovannara)

“After the shocking event happened they came, but since that, nothing,” said Ket Hann, 32, a cousin of Mr. Ang, 43, who lived a few minutes away down the winding dirt tracks of Nokor Pheas commune.

ambodia ‘Not in Line’ With Landmine Target

by Zsombor Peter | November 11, 2016

Cambodia is on track to miss a critical 2025 deadline to clear its minefields because it is spending too much money and manpower on land with few or no mines, according to a new report that warns of “disastrous” consequences if the country fails to meet the target.

When Cambodia signed the U.N.’s Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 2000, it made a pledge to clear its anti-personnel mines over the next 10 years with the help of international donors. Far from the goal, it won an extension to 2019. With that target also out of reach, it is expected to get another extension to 2025.


But to meet it, the report says, Cambodia will need to significantly narrow and shift its focus to the densest and deadliest minefields, changes the government’s lead demining authority seems reluctant to make.

Opposition Senator Sentenced to 7 Years in Jail

FILE - Cambodian opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour (L) of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) is escorted by police officers at the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 02 October 2015.

Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested in August last year after posting online what he claimed was part of a treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam that he said was evidence of Vietnamese transgressions.
PHNOM PENH —

A court in Cambodia has sentenced an opposition senator to 7 years behind bars for offenses he was said to have committed during a campaign last year against alleged Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian territory.

Senator Hong Sok Hour of the Sam Rainsy Party, who holds French citizenship, was arrested in August last year after posting online what he claimed was part of a treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam that he said was evidence of Vietnamese transgressions.

Bodyguard Chief Denies Lawmaker-Beaters Were Part of Force

by Ben Sokhean | November 9, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

The commander of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit denied on Tuesday that three soldiers who served a year in prison for beating opposition lawmakers ever belonged to the unit, despite their association being widely discussed publicly and in court.

“They are not involved with the bodyguard unit,” said Hing Bun Heang, head of the unit, when asked about the officers. “Sorry, they aren’t involved with me,” he added, declining to comment further.

Chay Sarith, 33, Mao Hoeun, 34, and Suth Vanny, 45, admitted in court to attacking CNRP lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea outside the National Assembly in October last year.
During their trial, Mr. Hoeun testified that he had gone to a protest outside the Assembly to “collect information” as a member of the bodyguard unit’s “intelligence group,” though he refused to say who gave the order or identify his commanding officers.

$1 Billion Wood Export Gap Raises New Questions

by Ben Paviour | November 9, 2016

Cambodia recorded almost $1 billion less in wood exports than the rest of the world reported receiving from the country between 2005 and last year, according to figures the countries supplied to the U.N.
From 2005 to last year, Cambodia’s National Institute for Statistics reported about $338 million worth of exports in wood—including rough wood, fuel wood, wood chips, charcoal as well as articles of wood such as kitchenware—to the U.N. Commodity Trade Statistics Database (Comtrade).


During the same period, other countries reported importing almost $1.3 billion of the same goods, suggesting that almost three-quarters of the global trade value in Cambodian wood was not captured by the government’s figures. Vietnam accounted for over half of the import value, while China captured about a third.

Six decades later, RCAF playing a familiar tune

Minister of Defence Tea Banh arrives at a celebration of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces’ 63rd anniversary yesterday. Heng Chivoan

Wed, 9 November 2016
Mech Dara and Shaun Turton

Marking the 63rd anniversary of Cambodia’s armed forces, Defence Minister Tea Banh yesterday called on troops to protect the country from “colour revolutions” and “social turmoil”, a by-now familiar refrain that may say as much about Cambodia’s military history as its political present.

Speaking at the Ministry of Defence, Banh told top military brass and officials that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces must “work with relevant authorities to protect security, public stability, prevent social turmoil and colour revolutions and strengthen democracy”.

Though the minister said the military’s role was to protect the “legitimate government”, his evocation of internal threats to the country appeared, yet again, a thinly veiled message to political opponents of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Judge rejects Rainsy’s claim that Hun Sen bought Facebook 'likes'

CPP social media official Som Soeun exits the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday after winning a defamation case against opposition leader Sam Rainsy. Niem Chheng

Wed, 9 November 2016
Niem Chheng

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday found Cambodian National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy guilty of defamation for claiming Prime Minister Hun Sen and his social media team artificially bolstered the premier’s “likes” on Facebook.

Rainsy was convicted of defaming Som Soeun, a CPP official attached to the prime minister, by accusing him of ordering CPP members and state employees to create “fake accounts” to like the premier in a Facebook post on March 9.

Senator Gets Seven Years For Facebook Border Post

by Khy Sovuthy | November 8, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour was sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday for forgery and incitement after presenting a border treaty on Facebook that the CNRP says merely contained a mistranslation.

As part of a provocative CNRP campaign last year aiming to expose Vietnamese incursions into Cambodian territory, Mr. Sok Hour appears in a video posted online in August presenting a doctored copy of a 1979 border treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam that the senator later said he had downloaded from Google years before.

Opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour is escorted into the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh in June. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

Presiding Judge Ros Piseth said Mr. Sok Hour was guilty of incitement, forging a public document and using a forged document, handing him a seven-year prison sentence. Mr. Sok Hour was absent from the sentencing—as were his four lawyers.

In their place, several CNRP lawmakers were at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, including Son Chhay, who railed against the verdict.

Rainsy Guilty in Hun Sen Facebook ‘Likes’ Case

by Ouch Sony | November 8, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy was found guilty on Tuesday of defamation for claims that Prime Minister Hun Sen and his social media team purchased Facebook “likes” from so-called “click farms” overseas in order to bolster his apparent support.

Mr. Rainsy was ordered to pay a 10 million riel (about $2,500) fine and 15 million riel (about $3,750) in compensation in a decision handed down by Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Im Vannak.

Som Soeun speaks to reporters outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in March after being questioned over a complaint he filed against opposition leader Sam Rainsy over fake Facebook ‘likes’ claims. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

Judge Vannak also said the decision would be broadcast for three days through the media, though it was not immediately clear how this would be enforced.

The judge said that Mr. Rainsy had damaged the honor of Som Soeun, a government minister involved in the premier’s social media outreach efforts who filed the lawsuit.
He did not say whether the court had investigated the veracity of the claims that the ruling party had purchased fake likes, but said that a message from Mr. Soeun instructing party members to help boost Mr. Hun Sen’s online popularity had been manipulated by Mr. Rainsy.
The CNRP president currently faces a two-year prison sentence over a separate defamation case, but was officially exiled from the country last month. He said in an email on Tuesday morning that he stood by his claims.

Questions raised over Apsara Authority's decision to fell tree

People use chainsaws to cut a rosewood tree in Siem Reap on Sunday for transportation. Apsara Authority

Tue, 8 November 2016
Niem Chheng

A 100-year-old rosewood tree felled by the Apsara Authority after it was found partially cut was impounded by the Forestry Administration in Siem Reap on Sunday, with a forestry official and an activist questioning the necessity of the move.

The Apsara Authority, which manages the Angkor Archaeological Park, said it cut down the 90-centimetre-thick tree after finding it partially sawn into by others. On its Facebook page, the authority said it removed the tree to prevent it from falling on pedestrians and to ensure that illegal loggers did not succeed in taking the endangered and valuable wood.

However, Tea Kimsoth, director of the Siem Reap Forestry Administration, indicated that it wasn’t necessary to fell the tree, adding that his authorities confiscated the luxury log.

Pacquiao has Unfinished Business Against Mayweather

LAS VEGAS (AFP) – Floyd Mayweather accepted an invite to watch Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao’s World Boxing organization (WBO) title fight on Saturday, leaving many wondering if a request to step back in the ring would be next.
 

Mayweather had a front row seat at the Thomas & Mack Center to watch Pacquiao easily beat former champion Jessie Vargas with a unanimous decision victory.
 

Pacquiao said on Sunday that he is eager to avenge his 2015 loss to Mayweather and he doesn’t feel the contract negotiations would be nearly as acrimonious as they were for the first fight, which became the richest in boxing history.
 

“Not only for myself, but the fans of boxing want the rematch then why not?” Pacquiao told a group of reporters at his luxury suite at the Wynn hotel and casino. “We can easily talk about that it is not a problem.
 

“Because we now have direct contact to them it would be easier to talk about when there will be a rematch.”
 

Cambodian Lawmaker Sentenced in Border Treaty Dispute

Sam Rainsy Party Sen. Hong Sok Hour is escorted from the supreme court back to Prey Sar Prison where he is being detained, June 22 , 2016.

Exiled Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Sam Rainsy rallied to the defense of an opposition lawmaker sentenced to a seven-year prison term on Monday for posting a disputed copy of the border agreement between Cambodia and Vietnam on Facebook in 2015.

On Monday the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Senator Hong Sok Hour guilty of forging and publishing public documents, and of incitement to cause instability, when he posted a disputed copy of a 1979 Cambodia-Vietnam treaty on Facebook that said the two countries had agreed to dissolve their mutual border.

Hong Sok Hour and his legal team refused to show up at the court on Monday.

One of his attorneys, Meng Sopheary, told RFA’s Khmer Service Hong Sok Hour and his legal team boycotted the proceedings because they are unjust, as the team was prevented from presenting evidence that showed the lawmaker was innocent.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Ros Piseth said the court found moot Hong Sok Hour’s requests to summon experts on border issues.

Trump Not a Dictator and Neither Am I, Hun Sen Says

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks during the inauguration of the Sunrise Japan Hospital in Phnom Penh in September. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

by Kuch Naren | November 8, 2016

Prime Minister Hun Sen is drawing up a list of political analysts who mistakenly grouped him and Donald Trump with dictators like Robert Mugabe and Vladimir Putin, he said on Monday.

“Now I have to send Donald Trump what they all said, whether he wins or loses,” Mr. Hun Sen said of the notoriously litigious businessman.

The prime minister said on Thursday that he wanted the U.S. Republican presidential candidate to win today’s U.S. election because Mr. Trump “would not want to have war.”

A flurry of media attention quickly lumped Mr. Hun Sen’s endorsement with several ruling autocrats, including Mr. Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mr. Putin of Russia and Kim Jong Un of North Korea.

But speaking to 3,800 graduating university students in Phnom Penh on Monday, Mr. Hun Sen said that he had merely offered his analysis, not an endorsement, and that pundits had been too quick to group him and Mr. Trump with autocrats.

Philippine President Duterte Joins Cambodia in Asean’s Growing Pro-China Bloc

FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shows the way to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

08 November 2016
    Neou Vannarin   VOA Khmer

Manila’s realignment would have negative consequences for US influence in the Asean region diplomatically and economically, analysts said.
PHNOM PENH —

When Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced in China that “America has lost me,” he became the most recent leader within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to align with Beijing.

Duterte went one better in his speech on October 20 in China, proposing that an alliance between Manila, Beijing and Moscow could follow now that he had announced his “separation from the United States.”

UN backs local OHCHR office in dispute

UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) country representative Wan-Hea Lee speaks during a press conference in Phnom Penh last month. Hong Menea

Tue, 8 November 2016
Jack Davies

The United Nations is standing behind Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) country representative Wan-Hea Lee after a letter signed by Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon accused her of failing to respect Cambodia’s sovereignty.

Sokhon had taken umbrage at Lee’s public request for an explanation of the government’s decision to ban opposition leader Sam Rainsy from returning to Cambodia.

The letter, sent last Friday, also alluded to OHCHR’s lapsed memorandum of understanding with the Foreign Ministry, declaring the agency’s activities “illegitimate” until a new one was signed, something Sokhon said the government had made a “firm commitment” to.

Praise of Donald Trump not an endorsement, says PM

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at a graduation ceremony yesterday on Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island, where he said his praise of Donald Trump was not an endorsement. Facebook

Tue, 8 November 2016
Touch Sokha

In a clarification unlikely to affect today’s United States presidential election, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said his recent praise for Republican candidate Donald Trump was not an endorsement.

Hun Sen on Thursday said he wanted Trump to win the ballot over rival Hillary Clinton because he believed the real estate developer and reality TV star’s potential to improve US-Russian relations would be good for world peace.

But speaking to students at a graduation ceremony on Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island yesterday, the premier said his comments were merely an analysis of the election’s possible outcomes.

Opposition Senator Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison Over Fake Vietnam Treaty

Opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour is escorted into the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh in June. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

by Khy Sovuthy | November 7, 2016

Opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty on Monday of incitement and forgery for presenting a fake border treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam on Facebook.

Neither Mr. Sok Hour nor his lawyer were present at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, but a number of CNRP lawmakers, including Son Chhay, attended the verdict.

After handing down the verdict, Presiding Judge Ros Piseth said Mr. Sok Hour had the right to appeal.

Bodyguard Unit trio released one year after MP beatings

Mao Hoeung (right) and Chhay Sarith (centre) exit a prisoner transport earlier this year at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Pha Lina

Mon, 7 November 2016

Mech Dara and Shaun Turton

A little over a year since they brutally attacked two opposition lawmakers outside the National Assembly, three troops from the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit walked free on Friday, having completed the 12-month term of their four-year suspended sentence.
Director of operations at the Ministry of Interior’s general department of prisons Be Tealeng said Mao Hoeung, Sot Vanny and Chhay Sarith left Prey Sar prison following a court order on Thursday that determined their punishment was complete.
“They can go work or do other business like other prisoners can after they leave prison,” Tealeng said.

One killed, 19 injured in crashes

A van sits on the side of a road in Pursat province after it collided with a lorry, injuring 18 people. Photo supplied

Mon, 7 November 2016

Kim Sarom

Two separate traffic accidents left 19 passengers injured and one dead this weekend in Pursat province’s Krakor and Bakan districts, traffic police said.
The first accident injured 18 people, leaving 10 badly wounded, Pursat provincial traffic office director Sem Ros said.

The accident took place on Saturday when a lorry transporting oil sped up to pass a car and collided with a van driving in the opposite direction. Only one person in the lorry was injured, while 17 people in the van sustained injuries.

“The injured people were hospitalised at Pursat Provincial Referral Hospital. No one has died from their injuries,” Ros said.
In a separate incident, a truck carrying a rice-harvesting machine crashed into a barricade in Bakan district.

The truck was driven by Chhin Van, 35, from Krang Sbov village, in the commune of the same name, in Kampot province’s Chhouk district.
The rice-harvesting machine fell from the truck when the vehicle hit the barricade, killing Nguon Meuy, 26, who had been sitting on top of it, Ros said. One more worker, Pang Vai, 30, was also badly injured.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/one-killed-19-injured-crashes?utm_content=buffer5e38c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Government Calls UN’s Human Rights Office ‘Illegal’

by Colin Meyn | November 7, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

After the Foreign Affairs Ministry said the U.N. human rights office had “crossed a red line” with its criticism of the decision to exile opposition leader Sam Rainsy from the country, a government spokesman on Sunday called the body “illegal.”
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the local office of the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), would be operating illegally until it renewed its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Mr. Siphan said the punishment would be that the government would not pay any attention to the office or its activities.

Bodyguards In Attack on Lawmakers Out of Jail

From left to right: Suth Vanny, Chay Sarith and Mao Hoeun arrive at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for a hearing on May 10. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

 

by Ben Sokhean | November 7, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Three bodyguards to Prime Minister Hun Sen convicted of viciously beating two opposition lawmakers last year were released from prison on Friday after a year in jail and still no sign of a broader investigation into allegations that the assault was orchestrated by commanding officers.
CNRP lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Sophea were pulled out of their cars immediately after they left the National Assembly on October 26 and repeatedly stomped on and kicked in the face and body by several men in plain clothes.

Why This Project?

Why This Project?

In the modern history of Cambodia, no country has loomed as large as China. Beijing wields pivotal influence on its smaller and poorer southern neighbor – from providing ideological inspiration and patronage for the Khmer Rouge and its radical revolution in the 1970s, to granting a home in exile for Cambodia’s deposed monarch, to offering investment and legitimacy to Hun Sen’s authoritarian state today. For Hun Sen, China’s “no strings attached” aid has helped war-torn Cambodia build a modern infrastructure, and diplomatic support from Beijing helps him fend off human rights criticism from the West. At the same time, however, Cambodians are increasingly wondering if China’s footprint in their country is too big. Rural communities struggle with pollution and deforestation driven by Chinese resource extraction businesses, not all of which is done according to law, and farmers worry about their livelihoods as China’s expanding system of dams dramatically reduce water flows from the vital Mekong River. Cambodia’s Southeast Asian neighbors and fellow members of ASEAN complain that Phnom Penh now acts as a proxy for Beijing, dividing the 10-nation group on critical issues like the South China Sea.

This project aims to take a systematic look at the way in which Beijing has gained and continues to grow its influence over Cambodia. From military aid to infrastructure investment, to mining and logging and even to immigration, RFA’s Khmer Service will dig deep into this complex relationship.

Myanmar ‘Careful’ in Assigning Blame During Probe of Maungdaw Violence

Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Nov. 4, 2016.

Myanmar’s de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday that the government is exercising caution about whom to blame for deadly border guard attacks and subsequent violence in Rakhine state’s Maungdaw township, and pledged to conduct a thorough investigation in accordance with the law.

Security forces inundated Maungdaw after the Oct. 9 raids on three outposts near the Bangladesh border, in which nine officers died, to lock down the area and search for stolen weapons.

Local Rohingya Muslims have accused them of arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, arson, and rape. Security forces also cut off access to aid workers and journalists. The government and military, however, have denied that soldiers committed the atrocities.

Cambodia Frees Hun Sen Bodyguards Who Beat Opposition Lawmakers

Chhay Sarith (L), Mao Hoeun (C) and Sot Vanny (R) are shown on their way to Phnom Penh Municipal Court, May 10, 2016.

Three members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s military bodyguard, convicted of the brutal beating of a pair of opposition lawmakers near the National Assembly last year, were freed Friday after serving only year in prison.

While Chhay Sarith, Mao Hoeun and Sot Vanny were sentenced to four years in prison, three years of that was suspended in what one of the victims called a “very light” punishment.

“I am so disappointed with the early release of the three perpetrators,” Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmaker Kong Saphea told RFA’s Khmer Service.

“The sentence was very light and is not commensurate with the brutality they inflicted on me and my colleague,” he added. “My personal safety and security and that of my colleagues’ are at risk after these men are free.”

Unicef Urges Government Review of Campaign Against Malnutrition

by Sonia Kohlbacher | November 5, 2016

Unicef’s representative to Cam­bodia on Friday strongly urged government departments and NGOs to step up efforts to reduce malnutrition by identifying and refocusing their priorities in a country where 1 in 3 children are stunted.

Action plans to reduce malnutrition among children—which leaves them smaller, cognitively impaired and more likely to be­come ill—must be re-evaluated so they meet global sustainable de­velopment goals to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, Unicef’s Debora Comini told parlia­mentarians, NGO representatives and university students at an event marking the government’s third annual National Nutrition Day.

Government accedes to requests of UN resident coordinator and diplomatic missions Posted by Myanmar News Agency

Placards held by Muslim villagers, are written in English with good hand writing, revealing the timed movement. Photo: MNA

Date: November 04, 2016
in: Feature, National

Union officials yesterday said they had satisfied the requirements of diplomatic officials for northern Rakhine State in the aftermath of the deadly armed attacks of 9 October.
Union Minister for Border Affairs Lt-Gen Ye Aung, Chief Minister of Rakhine State U Nyi Pu and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs U Kyaw Tin held discussions yesterday morning at the Rakhine State Guest House in Sittway with the UN resident coordinator/humanitarian assistance coordinator and ambassadors of foreign missions. After the meeting, the officials and diplomats visited Rakhine ethnic groups in Mawrawadi Village and Muslims residents of Zawmatat Village, where they were told that the village was peaceful, with no one involved in the recent attacks.
They also visited Alethankyaw, a village of over 11,000 inhabitants. Although the majority of the villagers are Muslims, there are a few Rakhine ethnics. Both groups live together peacefully, they said.

Asian Countries Defend Cambodia After UN Envoy Critique

UN human rights envoy to Cambodia Rhona Smith speaks at a press conference at the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Phnom Penh last year. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

by Michael Dickison | September 29, 2016

The U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia on Wednesday hit the country with a growing list of criticisms over alleged human rights abuses, which Cambodia parried with the apparent support of neighboring states, including Burma, Laos, Thailand and China.

Rhona Smith, in a presentation at a U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva, updated a report previously prepared in May with a litany of concerns over recent political events.

She wrote in May that “without genuine conciliatory efforts by the two main political parties…the situation of human rights in Cambodia could well deteriorate further in the months ahead.”

Loan Sharks Caught in Net

Seven Chinese nationals accused of kidnapping and illegally detaining three men before attempting to extort money from their families in 2015 were convicted and sentenced to between 15 and 25 years in prison yesterday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.


Presiding Judge Ros Pesith said the seven men – Dai Xiao Hui, 35, Hue Wutong, 46, Li Xihua, 59, Xu Cheng, 41, Wang Jie, 35, Zhang Zhong Sheng, 41, and Chou Chealong, 45 – were all casino gamblers and loan sharks representing the Sai Min Company based inside a leading hotel here before they were charged with “arrest, detention and unlawful confinement with aggravating circumstance” under article 253 of the Criminal Code.

Hun Sen Touts Peace Credentials in Meeting With Former Khmer Rouge Fighters

FILE-Prime Minister Hun Sen addresses environmental activists during the first national forum on “Protection and Conservation of Natural Resources,” on Monday, August 22, 2016 at Peace Palace in Phnom Penh. (Leng Len/VOA Khmer)

21 October 2016
    Ith Sothoeuth

At a meeting with former Khmer Rouge fighters in Pailin province, a stronghold of the group until the mid-1990s, Hun Sen said the policy had had a greater effect on creating a peaceful settlement than the Paris Peace Agreement of 1991 or the UNTAC elections of 1993.
PHNOM PENH —

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday claimed that his so-called ‘win-win’ policy that allowed Khmer Rouge militants to integrate into the Cambodian armed forces was the deciding factor that led to peace in the country.

At a meeting with former Khmer Rouge fighters in Pailin province, a stronghold of the group until the mid-1990s, Hun Sen said the policy had had a greater effect on creating a peaceful settlement than the Paris Peace Agreement of 1991 or the UNTAC elections of 1993.

Hun Sen Says a Vote for Trump Is a Vote for World Peace

FILE - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen gestures as he arrives for a group photo of leaders at the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

04 November 2016

    VOA Khmer
    Neou Vannarin

Speaking at a police academy in the capital, Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said: “If Trump is elected, the world will change and be in a better situation, because Trump is a businessman, and business doesn’t want to wage war,” he said. “This is the truth!”
PHNOM PENH —

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday threw his support behind the​ Republican candidate for ​the US ​presidency, Donald Trump, saying he hoped the controversial real estate mogul would “bring peace to the world.”

Hun Sen, the head of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, who has been in power for more than 30 years, said a Trump presidency would help usher in world peace by bringing the United States closer to China and Russia, avoiding a potential future conflict.

Sokha One Step Closer to Prison After Appeal Fails

by Kuch Naren and Ben Paviour | November 5, 2016

Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha inched a step closer to prison on Friday as the Court of Appeal upheld a September verdict sentencing him to five months in prison for failing to appear for questioning in a “prostitution” case.

“I’m very disappointed with the decision to uphold the decision against my client,” said Hem So­cheat, one of Mr. Sokha’s five defense attorneys. “This case has all the signs of being politically motivated.”

Mr. Sokha, who has been housebound at the CNRP’s Phnom Penh headquarters since May to avoid arrest, did not attend the trial, but Mr. Socheat said his client would appeal to the Supreme Court later this month. Authorities have said they will not arrest Mr. Sokha until the high court reaches a verdict on the case.

Ministry Blasts UN Over Rainsy Comments

by Colin Meyn | November 5, 2016

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs again on Friday accused the U.N.’s human rights office of interfering in its sovereign affairs after the body demanded an explanation for government directives exiling opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

Wah-Hea Lee, country representative for the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said last month that the decision to ban Mr. Rainsy from returning to Cambodia was “unjustified and arbitrary” based on available information.


“The decision needs to be urgently explained—although the chances for any explanation to be considered acceptable by the U.N. Human Rights Committee are slim—or reversed,” she said.
In a letter dated Friday and sent to U.N. resident coordinator Claire Van der Vaeren, Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn said the comments “crossed the red line of the UN Charter…underlining the respect for sovereignty and non-interference.”
The minister said the remarks, sent in an email to The Cambodia Daily, also violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which says that business with the government is to be conducted through ministries and not through the media.

“I have noted with deep regret that while the OHCHR has explicitly refused to mention the respect for sovereignty of Cambodia, its representative in Phnom Penh has continued interfering into the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” the letter said.

The memorandum of understanding between the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the OHCHR expired almost a year ago, and the government is refusing to renew it unless additional language is add­ed about respect for sovereignty and non-interference.

Mr. Sokhonn’s letter said that until a new deal is reached, the OHCHR had no legitimacy.
“In the absence of a valid Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the current operation and activities of the OHCHR in Cambodia, including those of its Country Representative, are not legitimate,” Mr. So­khonn said.

Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry declined to comment on what that meant for the office’s operations in Cambodia.
Ms. Lee did not respond to a request for comment.

meyn@cambodiadaily.com
© 2016, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

Disgraced Diplomat on the Offensive at Trial

by Khy Sovuthy | November 5, 2016

As his trial began on Friday, Suth Dina, Cambodia’s disgraced former ambassador to South Korea, scattered the blame for his alleged misdeeds on his predecessor, government ministries and his four accusers at the embassy.
“I request Samdech…Hun Sen, the head of state, to acquit me,” Mr. Dina said, addressing the prime minister—to whom he was once a personal adviser—through reporters gathered at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. “I am innocent.”

Cambodia’s former ambassador to South Korea, Suth Dina, 

arrives at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for his 

corruption trial on Friday. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)

Since Mr. Dina’s arrest in April, the Anti-Corruption Unit has publicly accused him of extensive graft, including taking kickbacks from migrant workers, pocketing fees paid for visas and failing to pay rent on the embassy in Seoul. The unit also raised suspicions over his ballooning personal wealth, which it says increased by as much as $3 million during his three-year tenure in South Korea.
His trial on Friday, however, boiled down to $116,995 in embassy revenue that he had failed to transfer on time to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, an allegation that led to charges of abuse of power and unlawful exploitation. Both charges carry a sentence of two to five years in prison and a fine of 4 million to 10 million riel, or about $1,000 to $2,500.

Analysis: Father’s shadow long for Hun Manet

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son, Hun Manet, talks to the media at the Phnom Penh airport last month after returning from a trip to Australia. Pha Lina

Fri, 4 November 2016

Shaun Turton

In August 1989, as Hun Manet was nearing his 12th birthday, his father was in Paris, piquing the international media’s attention as the gangly young prime minister leading the Vietnam-backed Phnom Penh government in talks to end Cambodia’s bloody civil war.

Cambodia’s Hun Sen: In Phnom Penh, Vietnam’s ‘puppet’ finds his voice, proclaimed a headline in the New York Times, which noted the ex-Khmer Rouge guerilla’s growing self-confidence as he traded barbs with then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk, head of the resistance and 29 years his senior.
Hun Sen, remarked the newspaper, had grown from a “tongue tied” 27-year-old to an “articulate and unintimidated” prime minister of 38, who, for young Cambodians who had little memory of Sihanouk’s reign, “represents modernity”.

Defendants tell court ringleader was a cop

Phnom Penh police officers detain two suspects following a shootout that left one officer dead in April. Photo supplied

Fri, 4 November 2016

Niem Chheng

Relatives of a drug kingpin killed during a shootout with military police in April testified in court yesterday that the drug dealer was actually a police officer.
During the military police raid at a house-front roast duck business in Tuol Kork, one police officer was killed, three others were injured; alleged gang leader Lim Kim Teng was also killed. Five other people were arrested at the scene.

On the first day of their trial yesterday, judge Ros Piseth questioned three of the accused – Ly Vireak, 37, Ly Kokhuy, 64, and Ti Ieng, 45 – charged with drug trafficking, being members of a criminal gang and illegal weapons possession. Both Kokhuy and Ieng, the uncle and brother-in-law of Kim Teng, respectively, said Kim Teng was a police officer.

“He was a policeman at the Ministry of Interior,” Ieng said during testimony.
Indeed, during the initial operation, police reported confiscating two vehicles – one of them an Audi with police plates. In court yesterday, the judge mentioned two cars were confiscated, but said they were a Lexus and a Highlander.

Officials at the Ministry of Interior could not be reached for clarification about the vehicles, or whether Kim Teng was indeed a police officer.
Vireak, the other man questioned, admitted to working with Kim Teng to distribute drugs, and said he had led police to site of the raid.

Kokhuy and Ieng, however, both denied all charges, saying they were just cooks at the duck restaurant, which police maintained was just a front, with the ducks themselves used as delivery parcels for contraband.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/defendants-tell-court-ringleader-was-cop

Libraries given copies of Kem Ley’s writings

Books containing the writings of Kem Ley are delivered to the National Library in Phnom Penh yesterday afternoon. Heng Chivoan

Fri, 4 November 2016

Touch Sokha

Students of murdered political commentator Kem Ley have raised $30,000 from the sales of two books compiled from his allegories and other writings, and yesterday began donating 1,000 copies of the book to university libraries around Phnom Penh.

Hang Vitou, a former student of Kem Ley, who had been giving lessons in analysis until he was murdered on the morning of July 10, said one book contains the long political “jokes” written by his former teacher, while the other had more academic writings.

“Providing these books is to urge readers to read Kem Ley’s work and his ideas related to social problems and their solutions . . . and to promote the hard work he did while he was alive,” Vitou said.
He said a total of 20,000 copies of the two versions would be produced, with 14,000 already printed.
The sales of 11,000 of those raised about $30,000, he said, while another 1,000 had been set aside as free copies for people who could not afford to buy them.

“The money will be donated to Kantha Bopha Hospital, to Kem Ley’s mother and his wife, and the rest will be for our team to continue Kem Ley’s work,” he said.
Vitou said copies of the books would also be donated to the National Library. A librarian there, Yorn Sokha, said that she welcomed the donation and that it would be put on display for the public.