Ranariddhs reach a settlement

Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Princess Marie Norodom Ranariddh appear together at the former headquarters of Funcinpec in October 2006. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Thursday, 10 June 2010
Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court has approved the divorce of Prince Norodom Ranariddh and
Princess Marie Norodom Ranariddh, and ruled that the latter is entitled to half of the former Funcinpec president’s estate, court officials said Wednesday.

Chev Keng, the court’s president, said the decision was handed down on Tuesday after the couple agreed to a reconciliation deal.

“The court decided to issue the verdict of divorce after the two parties reached an agreement to share the property,” he said.

Liv Sovanna, the lawyer for Norodom Ranariddh, declined to comment on the ruling on Wednesday, describing it as a “personal issue”.

Chea Chanboribo, the prince’s personal spokesman, declined to comment beyond saying that Norodom Ranariddh is currently travelling “back and forth” between homes in Malaysia and Phnom Penh.

Norodom Ranariddh filed for divorce from Princess Marie in 2006 after meeting and falling in love with Ouk Phalla, with whom he now has a son. Ouk Phalla, a former dancer with the Royal ballet, was at the time married to former Funcinpec minister Veng Sereyvuth.

Originally elected president of Funcinpec in 1992, Norodom Ranariddh led the party to a stunning victory in the UNTAC-sponsored elections in May 1993, at which point he became first prime minister. He was ousted as a result of factional fighting with the Cambodian People’s Party in 1997.

Cambodian husband takes half the house in divorce - literally

This divided half of the house is the wife's ownership (Photo: Chauk Chey, Koh Santepheap)

Thu, 02 Oct 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian couple decided to circumvent the country's notoriously corrupt and expensive court system in their divorce case by dividing their house in half, literally, local media reported Thursday. The Khmer-language Koh Santepheap newspaper featured a front-page photo of a precariously perched half of the stilted former home of Meuon Rima and his ex-wife Nhang, both 40, which Rima sawed with surgical precision down the middle.

Rima, who sought a divorce on the grounds that his wife refused to nurse him during a recent illness, was last seen driving away from the village in south-eastern Prey Veng province with his half of the home, the daily reported.

It was not known where he had gone with his very detached portion, it said, adding that Rima had not felt the same need to divvy up the couple's two teenaged children, both of whom he left with Nhang.

Under Cambodian law, assets are divided equally between husband and wife in the event of a divorce.