CAMBODIA’S SAM RAINSY FINED RM4M
Opposition chief found guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen
AMUNICIPAL Court here on Friday found veteran opposition chief Sam Rainsy guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen and ordered him to pay damages of US$1 million (RM4 million), the latest blow to an opposition crippled by legal cases this year.
Sam Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved by the Supreme Court last month in a decision that also banned more than 100 CNRP lawmakers from politics ahead of next year’s general election.
Rights groups have decried an ongoing crackdown against the political opposition and independent media.
One group called the CNRP’s dissolution the death of democracy in the country.
Hun Sen filed a US$1 million defamation suit against Sam Rainsy in January and accused him of defamation over claims he made in France that month that Hun Sen had bribed an activist to break up CNRP.
A judge on Friday found Sam Rainsy guilty and ordered him to pay Hun Sen US$1 million in damages and a fine of US$2,500. It gave him a month to appeal.
Sam Rainsy, who resigned from CNRP in February but rejoined last month, lives in exile in France.
Defamation convictions that he calls politically motivated drove him to flee Cambodia for France in 2015.
Sam Sokhon, a lawyer for Sam Rainsy, said Friday’s decision was unjust.
“I think the court’s verdict this morning did not provide justice to His Excellency Sam Rainsy. I will discuss with him to appeal,” he said. Reuters