Kampong Cham police have admitted they mistakenly assessed a 2018 crime involving an online news publisher as “red-handed,” as the publisher continues to seek justice over his six-day detention at the time.
Authorities met again over the country’s ongoing human trafficking scourge, in a committee headed by National Police and military police bosses Neth Savoeun and Sao Sokha — pledging action regardless of any suspected links to those officials.
A Chinese “blood slave” convicted of fabricating his tale received a suspended jail sentence of just three months — and has already been sent home — while three accomplices including trafficking rescuer Chen Baorong were sentenced to two years in jail.
Authorities released details of several crackdowns on forced labor and human trafficking of foreigners that were reported to the Interior Ministry’s hotline, but a ministry spokesperson again denied foul play or forced labor at almost all raided compounds.
A Cambodian boxing coach is among a group of Cambodians and Chinese facing charges from the covert raid of Sihanoukville’s Jin Gang casino in April, from which more than 200 Vietnamese nationals were released.
The government opened the floor to reporters’ questions about foreigners trafficked into the country’s online fraud operations, with officials trying to shift blame, claim ignorance and accuse critics of not understanding the “technical” nature of these cases.
Following a previous warning of violent incidents involving scam operations in Cambodia, the Chinese Embassy called for further caution against fraud syndicates and said it had successfully rescued some victims from the operations.
Two further charges were added against a Chinese man who has been working to rescue forced laborers, as the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court sent the man and two others to the provincial prison for pretrial detention.
Amid reports of widespread human trafficking and enslavement in Sihanoukville, a Chinese businessman working to rescue victims was questioned by the city’s prosecutors on Tuesday.
The government’s anti-drug crusade since 2017 has resulted in “serious and systematic” human rights violations against drug users rather than achieving its goal of reducing drug use in the country, rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a new report.
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