Cambodia Will Not Investigate Protest Shooting Death, Government Spokesman Says

No Changes Likely to Nauru Deal After Australian Political Shift

PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Cambodia’s deal to accept refugees from Nauru Island is not likely to see any changes, experts say, after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was ousted in a dramatic vote Monday night. His successor, Malcolm Turnbull, has bipartisan support from the opposition Labor Party to continue the agreement with Cambodia and the government’s tough approach on refugees generally. Despite the sudden shift, the $40 million deal remains intact. “There will be no change in the policy,” said Carlyle Thayer, a Southeast Asia expert at the University of South Wales’ Australia Defense Force Academy

Independent Unions Raise Minimum Wage Demand to $207

A group of independent unions say they will push for a new monthly minimum wage of $207 for garment workers when three-way negotiations with the government and factories begin in earnest next week.

CNRP to Order Lawmakers Silent on VN Border Issue

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Sunday that the CNRP’s 55 lawmakers will in the coming days be ordered to fall in line with the party leadership and cease attacking the ruling CPP on issues concerning the border with Vietnam.

Protest earns two more years for tuk-tuk driver

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced opposition activist Ouk Pich Samnang to two years in prison yesterday for allegedly driving his tuk-tuk through a barricade and beating six security guards at a protest last October. Samnang, 52, is already serving an eight-year sentence handed down this July for being one of 11 Cambodia National Rescue Party activists convicted on insurrection charges over a separate protest in July 2014. The latest charges stem from a protest held in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house on October 20, 2014, by about 100 residents of Preah Vihear who were asking for the premier’s intervention in a land dispute.

‘Come back, trust the courts,’ gov’t tells trio

Three Cambodia National Rescue Party members who fled Cambodia and are applying for asylum in the West after being linked to the case of imprisoned opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour should return home and have faith in the Kingdom’s justice system, a government spokesman said yesterday. Sok Hour was arrested by heavily armed police on August 15 for posting a “fake” 1979 border treaty purporting to show Cambodia and Vietnam agreeing to dissolve their borders on CNRP president Sam Rainsy’s Facebook page. Soon afterwards, fearing repercussions for helping to post the treaty and an accompanying video, two administrators for Rainsy’s Facebook page and Sok Hour’s personal assistant fled to Thailand, then on to another country in the region.

Lawmaker Asks Minister to Intervene Over Kampot Arrests

The chairman of the National Assembly’s human rights commission on Thursday requested that Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim intervene on behalf of two villagers who were arrested upon returning to Kampot province on Tuesday after protesting in Phnom Penh.

Immigration chief meets with Australian counterpart

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday met Cambodia’s senior immigration official, a day after holding talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and Interior Minister Sar Kheng over the A$40 million refugee resettlement scheme. A delegation led by Dutton that also included Major General Andrew Bottrell, the “operational and tactical liaison” for the refugee transfers, held a morning meeting with General Sok Phal, director-general of the Immigration Department. Officials, however, remained tight-lipped following the meeting. A spokeswoman for Dutton’s office said only that the Australians “were very encouraged by today’s meetings and are grateful for the high level of engagement during our visit”. “We look forward to continuing to work together to implement the next successful stage of the [agreement].”

ECCC Continues Hearing Testimony Into Cham Killings

A commune chief in Kompong Cham province told the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Thursday that villagers were asked to help exhume the bodies buried at the Wat Au Trakuon Security Center after 1979.

Cambodia to Vet Refugees in Coming Nauru Trip: Australia

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Thursday that Cambodian officials would visit Nauru within weeks to vet more refugees for their controversial resettlement scheme, according to Australian media.

Activist Gets 2 More Years in Prison Over Protest

Jailed opposition activist Ouk Pich Samnang called on the international community to condemn Cambodia’s court system on Thursday after he was handed a further two years in prison for intentional violence and obstructing authorities, despite a dearth of evidence against him.

Student Defends Call for ‘Color Revolution’

A student who was arrested last month over a Facebook post in which he dared people to join him in a “color revolution” said Thursday that the country’s leaders should seek to better understand the term, which refers to the use of nonviolent means to change the government.

‘No intention to incite’

A first-year university student arrested for calling for a “colour revolution” on Facebook says he did not intend for his message to incite a government overthrow and wants to be released from prison to continue his studies. Kong Raiya, 25, yesterday spoke to the Post at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after his scheduled questioning was delayed because his lawyer was absent. The seventh child in a family of nine, Raiya was arrested on August 20 outside Khemarak University, where he studies political science.

Cambodian Government Plans Stricter Internet Controls

Cambodia announced plans this week to form a new government department responsible for monitoring and cracking down on a range of vaguely defined “online” crimes, drawing expressions of concern from human rights groups and the country’s political opposition. Authorized by an Aug. 19 subdecree issued by the Ministry of Interior, the move will further restrict an already tightly controlled media environment in Cambodia and target government critics, a Cambodian press freedoms advocate told RFA’s Khmer Service. “Right now, the government can’t control online media or social media,” Cambodian Center for Independent Media Director Pa Nguon Teang said. “People rely on these media as independent sources for news, so the government is trying to find ways to threaten freedom of expression,” he said.

Cambodia Ready to Vet More Nauru Refugees

Cambodia is ready to start vetting more of the refugees Australia is hoping to resettle here from Nauru under a controversial deal between the two countries, an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen said after the premier met with visiting Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Wednesday.

Phnong villagers say official behind strife

Ethnic Phnong minority villagers in Mondulkiri claim that a local official has annexed more than half of the 47 hectares of community farmland granted to them in 1999. Pleun Tean, a representative of 42 Phnong families in Sen Monorom district’s Romnea commune, said that Huot Sony, deputy governor of the nearby Koh Nhek district, was behind the scheme. According to Tean, Sony obtained a one-year licence to use 25 of the area’s 47 hectares for a stone quarry, but was handed outright ownership documents this March after the licence expired last year. “He grabbed our land. He is Khmer, not an ethnic villager,” she said. “Why did the authorities give him the right to have the land?”

Authorities accused of threatening over land

Threatening leaflets were thrown into the homes of four people in Banteay Meanchey’s Thma Puok district, with victims saying they believe officials involved in a local land dispute are behind the intimidation campaign. Borinchhean Prakpha, first deputy chief for Kouk Kathin commune, said he sued former commune chief Pat Seum and Chab San, a soldier, in the provincial court in June for allegedly faking documents to appropriate almost 500 hectares of land in the area. Prakpha said that he began hearing rumours his life was in danger after going to Phnom Penh to file complaints about the dispute with various government institutions. “Ten days after I heard that rumour, the leaflets were thrown into my house,” he said.

Defence pushes Hun Sen link

Undeterred by numerous objections at the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Tuesday, Nuon Chea defender Victor Koppe yesterday continued to call attention to the alleged connection between current government figures – former East Zone cadres, including Prime Minister Hun Sen – and the suppression of a Cham revolt. The line of questioning, put to civil party Sos Ponyamin, came as the court continued to hear evidence on charges of genocide pertaining to the Khmer Rouge’s treatment of the predominantly Muslim Cham ethnic minority.

Six Arrested in Phnom Penh Over Bride-Trafficking Ring

Three Chinese men and three Cambodians were arrested in Phnom Penh on Wednesday on suspicion of running a trafficking ring in which Cambodian women are married off to Chinese men, police said.

Local activist called in for questioning

A prominent activist in Koh Kong province who has opposed the construction of the Stung Cheay Areng dam has been summonsed to court for alleged “forest crimes”. The summons, issued by provincial court judge Min Makara last month, was handed to Ven Vorn on Sunday. The activist was charged with collecting forest products without permission and tampering with evidence. If found guilty, Vorn could face up to five years in prison. “If you do not appear [in court] on the aforementioned date, we will issue an arrest warrant,” the summons reads.