Cambodian PM sues self-exiled opposition leader for defamation

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Wednesday filed a defamation lawsuit against self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy for accusing him of giving 1 million U.S. dollars to a social media celebrity to attack the opposition party.

Ky Tech, a lawyer for the prime minister, lodged the complaint against Sam Rainsy to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

The complaint was made after Sam Rainsy, president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said in a speech to supporters in France on Jan. 14 that the prime minister had offered social media celebrity Thy Sovantha 1 million U.S. dollars to fund the campaign against the opposition party.

The lawsuit said Sam Rainsy's slanderous allegations "have bad intention to mislead the national and international public opinion and have severely affected the honor and dignity of Samdech Techo Hun Sen."

In the complaint, the prime minister suggested that the court punish Sam Rainsy in accordance with the law and demanded a compensation of 4 billion riel (1 million U.S. dollars) from him.

On Tuesday, Thy Sovantha, 22, also filed a defamation complaint against Sam Rainsy, demanding 250,000 U.S. dollars in compensation.

Sam Rainsy, 67, has been living in exile in France since November 2015 to avoid a two-year prison sentence over a defamation charge.

In December last year, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also sentenced, in absentia, Sam Rainsy to another five years in prison for conspiring to incite chaos in the country through posting fake documents on his Facebook page.

(APD)