With Penal Code Coming, Concern From Lawyers

Ministry of (in)Justice. (Original Photo by: By Taing Sarada)

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C Monday, 20 September 2010

“When the law is unclear, it can't be enforced, then it makes people into victims.”

Cambodia is ready to put into effect a new penal code that replaces laws from the Untac era, but lawyers warn that some 300 newly illegal acts could catch people unawares.

The new law, passed last year, will be made effective throughout the country on Nov. 12.

Among other infractions, the new code includes laws against recording phone conversations without permission from the second party, against death threats, public drunkenness, and sexual solicitation via hand waves. It also makes illegal failure to intervene in a suicide in progress; refusal to testify before authorities; and the torture of animals.