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Vietnamese Embassy intervened in citizens' arrests, report claims
Cambodia's immigration police have rejected claims made in Vietnamese state media that the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh had protected scores of Vietnamese citizens from arrest. English-language outlet Viet Nam News yesterday reported that at the behest of Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry, the embassy had “conducted measures to ensure citizen protection following Cambodian forces’ arrest of 84 Vietnamese people on July 1”.
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EU Grills Human Rights Body
George Edgar, the European Union’s (EU) ambassador to Cambodia, yesterday questioned Keo Remy, the head of the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC), about the charges levied against opposition party members and civil society workers. After a closed door meeting at the CHRC office yesterday, Mr. Remy told reporters that the EU ambassador expressed his concern about the implementation of the country’s laws, especially those used to charge politicians and civil society groups.
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Trio jailed for leading Kampot strike action
Three union officials were arrested on Tuesday night for leading a nearly two-week long work stoppage against a Kampot-based garment factory that dismissed 21 of its workers on June 23. Yon Sambo, a deputy secretary for Cambodian Labor Union Federation; Meas Tom, a unionist for the Free Union Federation of Khmer Labor; and Sok Den of the Cambodian Worker Union Federation were arrested for incitement to commit an offence and would appear in court on Friday, said Moa Chan Makthurith, police chief of Kampot province.
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Unionists Arrested in Kampot for Inciting Strike
Three unionists were arrested in Kampot province on Tuesday for attempting to persuade workers at a garment factory to strike after their colleagues were fired for trying to unionize, police said on Wednesday. The arrests came amid weeks of turmoil at the Cambo T.D.G. garment factory in Kompong Trach district, where nearly half of the 700 employees have been on strike since 21 workers were fired on June 24 for trying to set up a union, workers’ representatives said.
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Report Details First Family’s Business Empire
On April Fool’s Day 2011, Prime Minister Hun Sen told the country that he earned less than $14,000 a year, amid a government campaign to get top officials to comply with a new anti-corruption law requiring them to declare their—sealed—assets. The premier, widely accused of running one of the most kleptocratic regimes in the world, added cheekily: “I will receive support from my children. I will not let myself die.”
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CNRP Requests Rainsy Explanation
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has formally asked for explanations of the criminal charges against its president, Sam Rainsy, from the National Assembly (NA) and National Election Committee (NEC) as well as explanations about the stripping of Mr. Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity. Speaking at a press conference at CNRP headquarters yesterday, opposition senator Teav Vannol said the party had submitted two letters asking the presidents of the NA and NEC to explain the reasons Mr. Rainsy was stripped of his immunity and now faces years-old defamation charges.
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Japan Confirms NEC Funding
Japan will continue funding the National Election Committee (NEC) ahead of the upcoming commune and national elections, despite growing international concern over Cambodia’s deteriorating political climate. Japan’s Ambassador to Cambodia Kumamaru Yuji confirmed his country’s continued support during a signing ceremony granting the Kingdom $200,000 in development aid on Monday evening.
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NGOs ‘lend support’ to PM’s stance on South China Sea
Buffeted by international criticism over his stance on the South China Sea dispute, Prime Minister Hun Sen this week found support for his position on the home front, albeit from a source analysts were quick to question. One hundred and forty-seven NGOs, associations and unions lent their support to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday, issuing a letter explicitly backing a widely reported decision to eschew a collective ASEAN statement on the South China Sea.
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The Rise and Revolt of ‘Rescue Girl’ Thy Sovantha
“It is known that the young National Rescue girls are beautiful and gentle when you meet them,” said one post in June 2013 from the CNRP’s Phnom Penh campaign manager Ly Sovichea, next to images of Ms. Sovantha assembling small CNRP flags. In the months of demonstrations after the disputed election, Ms. Sovantha helped to lead—from atop her Lexus SUV—the opposition party’s chants of “Hun Sen, step down,” while using her smartphone to film news segments for the popular “I Love Cambodia Hot News II” Facebook page.
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Court ends probe into Sokha's ignoring of summons
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday said an investigation into acting CNRP president Kem Sokha’s failure to appear for court summonses has concluded. In a letter dated Friday and revealed publicly yesterday, judge Than Leng confirmed the investigation had been completed and that it was now up to the prosecutor to either file charges and move toward a trial or to drop the case.
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Labour courts set to come into play by 2017
Labour Minister Ith Samheng yesterday said Cambodia’s long-delayed labour courts will be instituted by 2017, a key element of the new Trade Union Law. Speaking at the 7th National Industrial Relations Conference in the capital, Samheng said the courts were needed to resolve disputes, given that the Arbitration Council’s rulings were not legally binding. “We have observed labour courts in Japan, Australia and Singapore, and now we are preparing the labour court draft, which will be created by the end of 2017,” he said.
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World Is Watching, Government Told After UN Meeting
Following global condemnation of the Cambodian government at the U.N. Human Rights Council last week, rights groups sent a message to the ruling party on Tuesday that the world would not “turn a blind eye” to its efforts to stifle the opposition and other critics. The statement, signed by seven local and international rights organizations, highlights the widespread criticism of the government during the 32nd session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which concluded on Friday in Geneva.
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NGO calls for NEC to assist disabled in voting process
An NGO working with disabled people yesterday called on the National Election Committee to identify people with disabilities on its records, to enable the body to provide them with aid during elections over the next two years. Ngin Saorath, director of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation, suggested that the NEC add a column to the voter registration list to mark disabled people.
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Officials on Run After Journalist Reports Threats, Illegal Timber
A reporter in Mondolkiri province who climbed a mango tree to look into a police official’s compound for a rumored stash of illegal timber over the weekend says he was later detained and threatened with a beating. Doem Soeun, a reporter for the Apsara News Network, accused Suos Vora, a deputy police chief in Keo Seima district, and Mr. Vora’s younger brother, Suos Angkea, a border police official based in the district, of accosting him.
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Labor Court to Be Ready Next Year
The Labor Court will be ready to hear cases by the end of next year, according to officials from the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. The court is being optimistically designed to effectively resolve labor disputes in the garment sector, Labor Minister Ith Samheng said yesterday.
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Court Concludes Sokha Investigation
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has finished its investigation into the charges against acting Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) president Kem Sokha, after the Appeal Court on Monday dismissed a request to annul and drop the charges against him. According to a police note pinned to the front of Mr. Sokha’s Toul Kork home on Friday, investigating judge Than Leng has concluded the investigative process but has not revealed what the next course of action will be.
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Two Families Living in Hope
Ny Chan Reaksmey is only eight days old, but he has yet to meet the father who shares his family name. The young baby’s father is Ny Sokha, the head of monitoring for rights group Adhoc, who is detained in Prey Sar prison, accused of bribing a witnesses and conspiracy to bribe. Chan Reaksmey is the fifth son of Mr. Sokha and was born on June 28, but his life started differently from his siblings, who had their father nearby to take care of them.
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Garment factory protesters off to Appeal Court
Ten workers and union leaders given four-and-a-half-year suspended sentences for their alleged involvement in a January 2014 strike are to have their cases revisited by the Court of Appeal today. The 10 were arrested on January 2, 2014, after security forces violently cracked down on their protest in front of the South Korean-owned Yakjin garment factory in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district.
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TV journalist ‘attacked’ in Mondulkiri
A reporter for Apsara Television yesterday said he would file a complaint with Mondulkiri Provincial Court today alleging that illegal timber traders, a police officer among them, forced him to delete photographic evidence of their activities. Journalist Doem Soeun said he received a tip-off on Saturday about large numbers of vehicles hauling timber to the home of Keo Seima district police officer Suos Rora at Sre Khtum commune’s Snerng village.
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Ninth ‘Black Monday’ Sees Clashes, Threats
Anti-government protests marking the ninth “Black Monday” culminated in violent clashes between activists and security guards in Phnom Penh on Monday. Some 50 activists, most from the capital’s eviction-hit communities, gathered in the city’s Boeng Kak neighborhood at about 8:30 a.m. to demand the release of four human rights workers and an election official who were jailed in May for allegedly bribing the mistress of deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha to deny the affair.
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