PM Warns Critics About Calling Cambodia "Dictatorial Regime"

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP)--Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned critics they risk legal action if they call the country a "dictatorial regime."

"Be careful with the language of 'dictatorial regime.' Be careful, (or) one day legal action will be used," Hun Sen said during a graduation ceremony in the capital, Phnom Penh.

The premier's warning appeared to be aimed at those who allege senior Cambodian officials have recently used defamation lawsuits against critics to impede freedom of expression.

"This is a constitutional monarchy," Hun Sen said. "Don't curse it as a dictatorial regime - be careful!"

"(And) when legal action is used, you guys would say freedom of expression is prohibited, but your expression is wrong," he said.

Hun Sen's remarks came a day after a court found outspoken opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua guilty of defaming him and ordered her to pay more than $4,000 in fines and compensation.

Local human rights group Licadho said the verdict was "predictably unjust, and shows yet again how the courts are controlled by the government and used as a weapon against its political opponents."

There have been three defamation or disinformation convictions against Cambodian government critics in just over a month, the United Nations human rights office said Wednesday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch recently alleged Hun Sen's government aimed to silence political opposition and critics with a "campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action."