Rong Chhun and
Sar Kanika amid a COVID-19 outbreak in many Cambodian prisons. Mr. Chhun, a prominent labour rights defender, is the President of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), and a member of the Cambodian Watchdog Council (CWC)[1]. Ms. Kanika is a member of the youth group Khmer Thavrak[2]
and an ex-member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).
On June 8, 2021, Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika were denied bail by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which claimed that the crime for which they have been detained affects social security and is therefore unbailable. Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika were not present at the bail hearing as prison officers requested the court to suspend the transportation of inmates to tribunals due to public health concerns. Since mid-May 2021, many Cambodian prisons have been affected by an outbreak of COVID-19. These prisons include Phnom Penh’s Correction Centre 1 (CC1) and Correction Centre 2 (CC2), where the two human rights defenders rema
Officials from the Ministry of Interior’s Counter Counterfeit Committee (CCC) are searching for the parties responsible for the more than 74,000 litres of methanol seized in police raids on three depots in Stung Meanchey II commune of Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on June 1.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on May 26 placed a man in pre-trial detention for attempting to escape from a Covid-19 treatment facility in Dangkor district on May 22.
Russey Keo district police on May 23 sent a fugitive convicted in-absentia of murder to Prey Sar prison pursuant to a Phnom Penh Municipal Court arrest warrant.
The fugitive had already been given a life sentence for stabbing a woman to death in 2014 in Chung Thnol village of Sen Sok district’s Teuk Thla commune. His accomplice in the crime is also currently behind bars.
Russey Keo district police chief Heang Thareth identified the accused as Rith Say, 34, also known by the alias Morm. He had been staying in a rented room in Russey Keo district’s Chraing Chamreh II commune and was arrested there on May 22. His accomplice named Chhay Yokleap, 29, was also apprehended.