The procuracy office of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court summoned Sam Rainsy, President of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), to appear in court on 14 February for questioning over the defamation charge filed by Ky Tech, a lawyer of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

President of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Sam Rainsy, who has been in self-imposed exile abroad since November 2015, is facing a series of lawsuits and possibly arrest if he returns to Cambodia. He has been convicted in absentia of defamation.

The office also invited Sam Sokung, a lawyer of Sam Rainsy, to attend the interrogation.

On 18 January, PM Hun Sen empowered Ky Tech to lodge the complaint against Sam Rainsy to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court before he left for Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum.

The complaint was made after Sam Rainsy said that the Prime Minister had offered social media celebrity Thy Sovantha 1 million USD to fund the campaign against the opposition party.

In the complaint, PM Hun Sen also demanded a compensation of 1 million USD from Sam Rainsy.

A day earlier, Thy Sovanntha also filed a defamation lawsuit against Sam Rainsy, demanding 250,000 USD in compensation.

On 1 August, 2016, PM Hun Sen sued Sam Rainsy for slandering the government and the Prime Minister of standing behind the assassination of a political analysis.

Sam Rainsy has been living in exile from November 2015 to avoid a 2-year prison sentence over defaming Deputy PM Hor Namhong in 2008.

Last December, 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.

(Source: VNA)