Boeung Kak Protesters To Be Held After Arrest

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
May 23, 2012

A Cambodian protester, right, from Boeung Kak lake, cries as she clashes with police officers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. AP photo

The authorities have decided to hold 13 women arrested at the Boeung Kak development site on Tuesday, ignoring rights groups and dozens of demonstrators outside the court calling for their release.

The women were arrested at the site as they attempted to rebuild homes that had been demolished there earlier this year to make room for a massive commercial development.

In a statement Tuesday, the rights group Adhoc said the situation at the development site had deteriorated and that the government has a duty to protect its citizens and their right to adequate housing.

Around 50 demonstrators gathered in front of Phnom Penh municipal court Wednesday morning, where they stayed all day, anticipating the arrested women would be sent there.

City officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

“They are trying to hide their faults by continuing to detain the arrested persons,” said Chan Saveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc. Peaceful demonstration was not a criminal offense, he said.

Questioning for general in weapons case

Samith Virak following his arrest on Monday. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Peuy Pel (Photo: DAP-news)

Thursday, 13 January 2011
Thet Sambath and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

A BRIGADIER general arrested this week for allegedly possessing illegal weapons has been sent to military court for questioning, officials said yesterday, as an associate of the officer was arrested in Siem Reap province.

Samith Virak, deputy director of the materials and technology department at the defence ministry, was arrested at his home on Monday and brought to military court yesterday for interrogation by prosecutors, said Ney Thol, head of the military court.

“I did not get a report about the suspect’s answers. Now this case is in the hands of the prosecutor and I am waiting on a report from him,” Ney Thol said.

Former [Banteay Meanchey] Deputy Governor Arrested for Property Destruction

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 December 2007

Tuo Thien Tey, the former deputy governor of Bantey Meanchey province, was arrested Monday under suspicion he ordered the arson of an excavator in a July land dispute.

Tuo Thien Tey, who defected from Funcinpec to the Cambodian People's Party early this year, was brought to Phnom Penh from the northern province to face charges.

Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay said Monday Tuo Thien Tey may have put his brother up to setting fire to the equipment, as a result of land disputes.

UN envoy criticises continued Myanmar detentions, repression

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari Friday criticised the Myanmar junta's continued arrests of dissidents following a crackdown on pro-democracy protests, saying it undermined national reconciliation.

Rights groups and activists inside the country have accused the government of detaining prominent activists and also of closing a monastery linked to the demonstrations in September.

Rights group Amnesty International said this week that at least 16 people had been seized since early November, despite the junta's promise to Gambari, the UN secretary general's special representative to Myanmar, that there would be no more arrests.

"Any further arrests of people are contrary to the spirit of national reconciliation and also run counter to the effort to promote dialogue" between the government and political opposition, Gambari told reporters at the end of a two-day visit to Cambodia.

"Any action that runs contrary to the spirit of national reconciliation... should be avoided," he said, adding that dialogue, including with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was the only way out of Myanmar's political crisis.

"If Aung San Suu Kyi is to become part of the solution and part of the dialogue, then it is very essential that she be released from detention," he said.

Gambari was in Cambodia as part of a regional trip to assess the positions of Myanmar's neighbours after the junta's bloody suppression of September's pro-democracy protests.

Troops killed at least 15 people and arrested about 3,000, drawing international condemnation and pressure for increased sanctions.

Shari Villarosa, the charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Yangon, told reporters that she hoped Gambari would be allowed to return soon to Myanmar to push forward efforts at building a dialogue between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Hopefully he can get back in and get something that to all observers will look like real dialogue, because it's hard for most observers to see that right now," Villarosa said at a briefing in Bangkok.

"We remain very supportive of his good offices role," she added.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia is a member, has come under increasing pressure to deal with its most unruly member since the unrest broke out.

Following talks Thursday with Gambari, Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong rejected sanctions against Myanmar, a diplomatic ally, saying instead that incentives should be used to push the junta towards democracy.

Hor Namhong did say, however, that Gambari's mission to Myanmar had his country's support.

"Cambodia... is in a privileged position to convey key messages to Myanmar and I believe they will do that," Gambari said shortly before departing for Laos on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein arrived in Cambodia for an official three-day visit, during which he will hold discussions with his counterpart Hun Sen.

Hor Namhong told reporters at Thein Sein's arrival that the situation in Myanmar had improved since the crackdown, and that the unrest would not be discussed.

"We are not going to raise anything. We think the situation is moving ahead... what happened is in the past," Hor Namhong said.

Two more arrests in Thai, Cambodian pedophile allegations

Friday, November 2, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A German man who allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old Cambodian girl has been arrested in one of several new suspected pedophile cases in Southeast Asia, police said Friday.

The arrest came after police in Thailand detained a British man on suspicion of pedophile activities, and officers in Vancouver held a Canadian whose extradition to face a child sex charge — also in Thailand — had been sought.

Police in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, raided the German suspect's hotel room Thursday and discovered him with the teenage girl, said Keo Thea, deputy chief of Cambodia's anti human-trafficking police. The German will face charges in court, Keo Thea said.

In Canada, Orville Frank Mader, 54, was arrested on arrival Thursday at Vancouver's international airport, said police Col. Apichart Suribunya, head of Thailand's liaison office for Interpol.

Thai police had issued an arrest warrant for Mader on Wednesday after an 8-year-old Thai boy said he was taken to Mader's hotel room by a Thai man in Thailand's beach resort town of Pattaya, said Apichart.

"We have asked Canadian authorities to extradite him because he has committed crimes in Thailand," Apichart said. Under Canadian law, its citizens can also be prosecuted at home for sex crimes committed abroad.

Mader's arrest follows the detention Tuesday of British man Paul Cornelius Jones, 39, following a raid on his Bangkok apartment where police said they found a computer containing photos of naked boys and girls. Jones, of Cardiff, Wales, has been charged with distributing pornographic photographs of children under age 15.

"What we are seeing is an increased level of awareness among the police structures (and) the establishment of specialized units that allow them to arrest the perpetrators," said Carmen Madrinan, executive director of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, a worldwide network of groups striving to end the sexual exploitation of children.

"Many NGOs (nongovernment organizations) are becoming more and more vigilant, keeping under observation and tipping off the authorities suspected child sex offenders," said Madrinan.

A French child rights group, Action Pour Les Enfants, said it had tipped off Phnom Penh police about the arrested German. But the Cambodia director of the NGO, Samleang Seila, said, "There are still many loopholes and gaps in the legislation system and the judiciary that enable perpetrators to avoid conviction."

The problem of Western pedophiles in Southeast Asia was highlighted by a worldwide appeal by Interpol that resulted in the arrest Oct. 19 of Christopher Paul Neil, another Canadian, who is accused of having abused Thai, Vietnamese and Cambodian boys.

The hunt for Neil began three years ago when about 200 photographs of a man sexually abusing children were discovered online. His face was digitally obscured, but German police were able to unscramble the photos, which were then circulated by Interpol. Public tip-offs helped police identify Neil as a suspect and he was arrested in rural Thailand.

Two more Indonesian nationals arrested for puncturing car tires [-Cambodia target country for international thieves?]

Evidence retrieved from the alleged thieves. At the bottom are the pointy objects used by thieves to puncture car tires. (Photo: Bun Nak, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Thursday, September 27, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The police made an arrest on 2 Indonesian nationals who are suspected of puncturing car tires of their victims before following them by motorcycle to rob these victims once they come out of their car to replace the flat tires. The arrest was made in the morning of 26 September along Monivong Boulevard, near the Ministry of Information. In the afternoon of 25 September, the police also arrested 2 other Indonesian nationals, after the pair were following a woman who just withdrew money from the bank, and whose car had a flat tire. After the arrest of the 2 Indonesian nationals, the police found several evidence on them, including 14 pointy objects similar to those used to puncture tires of previous victims.

Oum Chhay's apparent suicide (nobody allowed to see his body) and Chea Chung arrested (the next one to leap out of a window?)

Key Drug Suspect Plunges to His Death as Potential Ringleader Held

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
21 August 2007

A key suspect in one of Cambodia's biggest drug cases fell to his death Tuesday morning from the window of the anti-drugs department building where he was being questioned, police said.

Police ruled the death of Oum Chhay a suicide and said his death made building their case against an alleged methamphetamine production ring more difficult.

"The authorities regret the event, because he did give some answers," said Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak. "We are continuing our work, but losing Mr. Oum Chhay makes our investigation incomplete. The confession of the victim in his answers [to our interrogation] could have helped us finish our work."

Om Chhay lept from the building when the policemen who were watching him took a break to use the toilet, Khieu Sopheak said.

Oum Chhay was arrested last week on charges stemming from a drugs-lab raid by national police earlier this year in Kampong Speu, which netted four tons of materials from a so-called "super lab" for methamphetamines.

Rights workers and journalists complained immediately they were not being given access to information or the body to independently confirm Oum Chhay's cause of death.

In fact, there were several questionable circumstances surrounding the case, said Chan Saveth a human rights investigator for the group Adhoc.

Oum Chhay was reported in the local media as an adviser to National Assembly President Heng Samrin, who is also the honorary president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party.

Police also late Tuesday they had arrested another highly sought suspect, Chea Chong. He was being held Tuesday at Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh pending drug-production charges, police said.

More on VN woman with Cambodian passport arrested in Singapore by anti-vice officers

Tue, 21 Aug 2007
Vietnamese woman's third husband faces jail for role in bigamy

DPA

Singapore - The third husband of a Vietnamese woman convicted of bigamy was found guilty of helping her make false declarations to Singapore immigration authorities, news reports said on Tuesday. The Kuan Meng, a 36-year-old sales engineer, could face seven years behind bars, The Straits Times reported.

He married Tran Thi Gai, 29, while she was still wed to her first husband, Liong Tian Yong. Tran was jailed earlier for 11 weeks after marrying three men in five years.

Tran first married Liong to extend her stay in Singapore, the court heard on Monday. She was holding a Cambodian passport.

She marred Kelvin Quek Tze Beng in 2003 using another name. In August 2004, she tied the knot with The under her real name as she was pregnant with his child.

Investigations revealed that Tran was arrested by anti-vice officers and repatriated to Cambodia after she came to Singapore in 2002, the report said.

She moved to Vietnam and returned to Singapore on a fake Vietnamese passport. She was arrested by anti-vice officers again and sent back.

She entered Singapore in May 2004 on a new Vietnamese passport and gave birth in September that year.

When The filled out disembarkation cards for Tran on trips to Malaysia, he declared she had never used a passport under a different name, although he knew of her previous run-ins with immigration.

He also kept silent when they got married as Tran declared that she was single before the commissioner of oaths.

Lawyer Irving Choh told the court that The committed the offences out of love.

Sister of Thai coup leader arrested by Cambodian custom officers

Saturday, August 18, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The sister of Thailand’s coup leader was detained by Banteay Meanchey province custom officers, and her car was impounded when the woman illegally drove her right-handed steering wheel car into Cambodia. The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper quoted The Nation which reported that 49-year-old Kaknit Boonyaratglin was arrested along with her car by Cambodian custom officers a few weeks ago. The custom officers did not know that this woman is the sister of the current Thai army leader. The younger sister of General Sonthi Boonyaratglin drove a right-handed steering wheel silver Toyota pickup truck into Cambodia through the Poipet international gate on 29 July 2007. When she entered about 200-meter into Poipet commune, the woman stopped her car and changed the Thai license plate to a Cambodian one. Later on, she was arrested by Cambodian custom officers who sent her and her car to their office in Sereysophorn (Sisophon) district. A custom official indicated, at first, the Cambodian authority did not known that she is General Sonthi’s sister, it was not until the Thai authority came to ask for her release that the Cambodian authority knew about this fact, and released her back to Thailand. However, her car is still being impounded in Cambodia.

Vietnamese woman [with Cambodian passport] jailed for bigamy [-Shouldn't it be called trigamy?]

17 August 2007
DPA

SINGAPORE - A Vietnamese woman who married a third husband while still wed to the first was sentenced to 11 months in jail, news reports said on Friday.

Tran Thi Gai, 29, pleaded guilty to bigamy, making a false marriage declaration and lying that she had not used a different passport or name to enter Singapore, The Straits Times said.

The court heard that Tran married her first husband, Liong Tian Yong, in 2001 so that she could extend her stay in Singapore. She was then holding a Cambodian passport.

She married Kelvin Quek Tze Beng in 2003. A year later, she married her third husband, The Kuan Meng, as she was pregnant with his child.

The, a 36-year-old sales engineer, has been charged with abetting her and is scheduled to go on trial Monday.

Tran’s offences were discovered when she applied for permanent resident status last year.

CCHR demands that Vietnam release back Khmer Krom Monk

03 August 2007
By Moeung Tum
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) officially asked the Vietnamese government to release Monk Tim Sakhorn and hand him back to Cambodia.

CCHR sent a letter dated 03 August to the Vietnamese ambassador in Cambodia, indicating that the arrest of Monk Tim Sakhorn in Cambodia by the Vietnamese authority is a serious violation of the rights of the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda located in Takeo province, and that this act is also a violation on the Cambodian territory, as well as a violation on the Cambodian legal system.

On Thursday, the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia informed CCHR that Monk Tim Sakhorn is currently being temporarily jailed in Vietnam where he is charged with illegal entry into Vietnam, and creating unrest by undermining the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. On 30 June 2007, the Cambodian authority defrocked Monk Tim Sakhorn by force and sent him back to Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) while claiming that the monk asked to return back to live in his native village.

CCHR considers this as an irregularity perpetrated against Monk Tim Sakhorn, and that this constitutes an additional violation of the rights of the monk. In this case, the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam must be held responsible, and that only when the family of Monk Tim Sakhorn and representatives of human rights protection organizations can meet him directly, then Vietnam indeed showed that it protects the monk’s safety and that no additional violations have been imposed on him.

Foreigners Questioned Over Protest as Donor Meetings Begin

VOA Khmer Stringers
Original report from Phnom Penh
19/06/2007

Two days of donor meetings beginning in Phnom Penh Tuesday were preceded by the detention of eight foreigners near the meeting site at Wat Phnom for alleged unauthorized protest.

The eight, including three Americans, were questioned Tuesday at police headquarters in Phnom Penh, after calling for the release of Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, two men serving long prison sentences for a murder rights workers believe they are innocent of.

The detained foreigners—described as NGO and church workers and tourists—were seen driving two trucks with signs calling for justice for the two detained men.

Police said the hanging of such signs amounted to protest, for which the eight had not been given permission.

Meanwhile, talks got underway Tuesday by donor countries to determine the amount of aid the country will receive in the upcoming year.

Last year, donor countries gave more than $600 million in aid, and the government said ahead of the meetings it expected about the same this year. But the meetings come as Cambodia faces a rash of criticisms, especially for stopping increasing land snatches by corrupt officials or unscrupulous speculators.

The government has also come under fire for illegal logging and continued corruption.

Ahead of the meetings, donor representatives said they were concerned with the slow pace of corruption reform, particularly the stalled passage of a proposed anti-corruption law.

"The problem remains mostly in the larger issue of the rule of law, whatever the corruption or judicial reforms, things like that continue to be a problem," US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said.

World Bank Country Director Ian Porter said at the start of the meetings the formation of an anti-corruption law should be a high priority for the government and donors.

In response to these concerns, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the law was an "important issue" and now was an "opportune time" to address it.

However, the prime minister has promised quick passage of the law in the past, without results. He avoided giving a time frame for the law's passage.

Thai authority arrest 51 Cambodians for illegal border crossing

9 June 2007
By Mayarith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Bangkok police arrested 51 Cambodians who are accused of illegal border crossing, among those arrested are 8 Cambodian Muslisms who plan to travel to Southern Thailand currently under turmoil.

The arrest of the Cambodians, including Cambodian Muslims, on Wednesday took place after a report was issued by Thailand’s supreme commander, General Boonsang Niempradit, stating that the Thai authority is currently investigating the suspected Cambodian Muslisms, who are crossing the border from Cambodia to Thailand, for (possible) involvement with Thai Muslim insurgents in Southern Thailand.

Among all the Cambodians arrested, the 8 Cambodian Muslims are being further questioned when they told the Thai police that they plan to go look for work in Thailand southern provinces: Pattani and Narathiwat.

Thai newspapers reported that the 8 Cambodian Muslims told the Thai police that they each paid 5,000 bath (~$145) to middlemen to take them to find work in the 3 southernmost provinces of Thailand.

In Cambodia, Sos Camrey, the director of a Muslim group in Cambodia, told RFA that ift is the Thai authority’s right to arrest anybody who are illegally crossing into Thailand, but he is calling for a detailed investigation on the suspicion surrounding the 8 Cambodian Muslims whom the Thai authority want to know more of their involvement with Thai insurgents.

Sos Camrey said: “There is no problem for me (for the arrest), I don’t say anything because it is up to the government of each country to see what is right (for its country), I agree to that. The charges depend on the evidence.”

The report indicated that among the 51 people arrested in Thailand, 48 of them were arrested at the Sakeo border gate, whereas the other 3 were arrested when they were crossing the border in Aranyaprathet.

Prince denies acquaintances with alleged gang members arrested by police

Prince Charachak (seen in black polo shirt) was displayed by the police during a press conference (Photo: Bun Nak, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

On Tuesday, 7 Makara district police put on display a group of youngsters – among whom was a prince – the group is charged with illegal use of weapons (swords), and was arrested on Monday afternoon. In the group of 9 suspects on display, one of them is Prince Norodom Charachak, the son of Prince Norodom Chakrapong, NRP party vice-president. Major Yim Simony, the 7 Makara police inspector said that the police will build a case for the 9 arrested – 8 males and 1 female – and will send them to Phnom Penh municipal court for illegal use of weapons (sword), and for assembly of gang members (Bang Thom and Bang Tauch). Prince Charachak who also works as a bodyguard at the Ministry of Interior, said that he is not involved with the young hoodlums and the swords, because he does not know where they came from when they were arrested by the police while the group was sleeping in a rented home in Boeng Prolit.