AP - Wednesday, June 18
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A Cambodian opposition leader said Wednesday a prosecutor's request to strip him of his parliamentary immunity was politically motivated to damage his reputation ahead of July national elections.
Sam Rainsy, head of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, denounced the prosecutor's action as an attempt to ruin his party's chances in the general election and "put me out of the political arena."
His comments came in response to a letter sent Monday to the lower house of parliament by a Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor.
The prosecutor, Ek Chheng Huot, requested that Sam Rainsy be stripped of his immunity so he could be investigated in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, a senior official in Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.
Stripping a lawmaker of parliamentary immunity requires a two-thirds vote in parliament, which is currently in recess until national elections.
The prosecutor said Sam Rainsy has been accused of defamation and disinformation after he accused Hor Namhong of being a prison official for the Khmer Rouge in the capital, Phnom Penh.
Sam Rainsy made the comments in an April 17 speech commemorating the Cambodians who died during the Khmer Rouge's brutal 1975-79 rule.
Hor Namhong has denied similar allegations in the past and won two defamation suits on the issue.
The foreign minister was among hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals who were living abroad and then returned home at the request of the Khmer Rouge. Upon their return many were held at the Boeng Trabek re-education camp. Many of them were transferred to the notorious S-21 prison before being executed, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent institute researching the Khmer Rouge atrocities.
But, he said, there was no evidence that Hor Namhong acted as the chief of the camp.
Sam Rainsy repeated his accusation Wednesday. "Hor Namhong was the chief of the Boeng Trabek re-education camp, a kind of prison," he said.
His party is one of the few key challengers to Prime Minister Hun Sen's party in the upcoming national election.
Sam Rainsy said the government was doing all it could to ensure his party can not compete with the ruling party.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who is also the chief government spokesman, dismissed Sam Rainsy's allegation, saying the government had nothing to do with the court's request to have his immunity removed.
He accused Sam Rainsy of playing "dirty tricks" for his own political gain ahead of the election by tarnishing Hor Namhong's reputation.
"So, Hor Namhong also has to clear his name before the election" by suing Sam Rainsy, Khieu Kanharith said.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A Cambodian opposition leader said Wednesday a prosecutor's request to strip him of his parliamentary immunity was politically motivated to damage his reputation ahead of July national elections.
Sam Rainsy, head of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, denounced the prosecutor's action as an attempt to ruin his party's chances in the general election and "put me out of the political arena."
His comments came in response to a letter sent Monday to the lower house of parliament by a Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor.
The prosecutor, Ek Chheng Huot, requested that Sam Rainsy be stripped of his immunity so he could be investigated in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, a senior official in Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.
Stripping a lawmaker of parliamentary immunity requires a two-thirds vote in parliament, which is currently in recess until national elections.
The prosecutor said Sam Rainsy has been accused of defamation and disinformation after he accused Hor Namhong of being a prison official for the Khmer Rouge in the capital, Phnom Penh.
Sam Rainsy made the comments in an April 17 speech commemorating the Cambodians who died during the Khmer Rouge's brutal 1975-79 rule.
Hor Namhong has denied similar allegations in the past and won two defamation suits on the issue.
The foreign minister was among hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals who were living abroad and then returned home at the request of the Khmer Rouge. Upon their return many were held at the Boeng Trabek re-education camp. Many of them were transferred to the notorious S-21 prison before being executed, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent institute researching the Khmer Rouge atrocities.
But, he said, there was no evidence that Hor Namhong acted as the chief of the camp.
Sam Rainsy repeated his accusation Wednesday. "Hor Namhong was the chief of the Boeng Trabek re-education camp, a kind of prison," he said.
His party is one of the few key challengers to Prime Minister Hun Sen's party in the upcoming national election.
Sam Rainsy said the government was doing all it could to ensure his party can not compete with the ruling party.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who is also the chief government spokesman, dismissed Sam Rainsy's allegation, saying the government had nothing to do with the court's request to have his immunity removed.
He accused Sam Rainsy of playing "dirty tricks" for his own political gain ahead of the election by tarnishing Hor Namhong's reputation.
"So, Hor Namhong also has to clear his name before the election" by suing Sam Rainsy, Khieu Kanharith said.
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