Legal and judicial system
Judiciary and courts
U.S. court asked to force Facebook to release Myanmar officials' data for genocide case
Lawyers bringing a case before the World Court accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a U.S. district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications of the country’s military and police. The International Court of Justice based in the Hague ...
Anthony Deutsch
Mediation helping manage Laos’ legal case backlog problem
Law courts in many Asian countries are overburdened. A perfect storm of factors including rapid economic growth, urbanisation, industrialisation and the withering away of traditional governance systems has caused the number of criminal and civil cases to soar. Courts are often ill-equipped to cope with ...
National Anti-Corruption Commission Finds Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan Innocent in Luxury Watch Scandal
An Investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission has found Thailand’s deputy prime minister innocent of failing to declare assets a year after he was discovered to have several luxury watches that would have been out of reach of his government salary. Keep reading ...
Cambodia accused of 'killing off democracy' after opposition party dissolved by Supreme Court
Cambodia has been accused of ‘killing off democracy’ after the country’s supreme court dissolved the opposition party and outlawed over 100 politicians ahead of a general election next year. Thursday’s ruling to disband the Cambodia National Rescue Party, in a Southeast Asian country visited by about 159,000 ...
Nicola Smith & Louise Burke
NA members oppose single-judge court cases
National Assembly members have spoken out against having a solitary judge preside over even the smallest of court cases, which they believe is an easy path to unjust judgments. They took the stance at the debate on the amendment to the Law on the People’s ...
Deadlock as PTT hit by big claim over oil spill
Thai firm alleges Indonesia refuses to settle after years of dispute and Bt70 billion suit filed in Court. The Indonesian government and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production plc are locked in a multi-billion-baht legal dispute over alleged environmental and other damages resulting from the massive 2009 Montara ...
Experts push for inquisitorial system of justice
Experts at a seminar on constitutional procedure in the organic law related to the Constitutional Court expressed the need to emphasise on the inquisitorial system over the adversarial legal system as well as allow the public to bring constitutional dispute cases to the Court. The ...
Party Law draws EU eyes
A European parliamentarian has submitted a “priority question” to Europe’s high representative for foreign affairs, Frederica Mogherini, urging strong action against Cambodia in response to recent threats by Prime Minister Hun Sen to dissolve opposition parties. Legislation proposed on Monday by the ruling Cambodian People’s ...
Political parties law moves ahead
Ruling party members on the National Assembly’s Permanent Committee approved several proposed amendments to the law on political parties on February 13 despite strong requests for a delay from the opposition. The bill will now be reviewed and studied by the commission of legislation and ...
Govt, Japan to further develop human resources in legal sector
To realise the government’s master plan of building the country into a state governed by the rule of law, Laos will continue to work with Japan to enhance their joint efforts to develop institutional and individual capacity in the legal sector. This was the key ...