Violence committed by the state against Cambodians — or “these things” as one shooting victim put it — is not infrequent. But amid villagers’ decadeslong struggle against land grabs, many are finding courage in filming and broadcasting authorities’ abuses live, across the country.
Several Phnom Penh communes say they have recorded a rise in non-Covid-19 deaths this year, while a clinic and hospital say their patient numbers are down significantly as people choose self-treatment amid pandemic fears.
As part of a massive government campaign to privatize land, ostensibly for poor families, Cambodia has cut off nearly 127,000 hectares from Koh Kong’s protected parks. In part one of reports from the province, Tuol Koki commune residents laugh off the prospects of benefiting from the campaign.
A military officer’s development company has been fined about $200,000 for extracting red dirt in Kampot province without a licence, in what a Mines and Energy Ministry spokesperson said was the only major fine imposed by the ministry this year.
A former opposition commune chief in Kampong Speu province was arrested and jailed on Thursday for a crime of incitement dating back to January 2019, the provincial governor said.
Excavators have started digging a waste-water treatment reservoir off a wastewater canal in Boeng Tompun I commune, with Phnom Penh authorities telling the land’s claimants they had no claim to the land.
Three journalists who were attempting a live broadcast from a land protest at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tompun lake area were taken to a police station and made to sign an agreement that they would not make the same mistake again.
As tens of thousands of Covid-19 cases mount across the country, lives inside Cambodia’s pagodas have become marked by caution and practical concerns — more cooking and fewer ceremonies — while creating a void of Buddhist teachings for the nation, monks said.
Former CNRP lawyer and board member Choung Choungy has applied for political rehabilitation — after being banned by the Supreme Court in 2017 — but an Interior Ministry spokesperson said his reentry into politics could be hampered by an unresolved court case.
A journalist working for Siem Reap Breaking News and arrested on Wednesday was charged with incitement and violations of the Covid-19 Law, the latter punishable by up to three years in prison.
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