Sam Rainsy to face off with Hor Namhong in Paris

Written by DAP NEWS
http://www.dap-news.com

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is going to face Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, Minister of Foreign Affair and International Cooperation, again at the Appeal Court in Paris, France.

Sam Rainsy has been ordered to appear before a French appeals court on October, 8, 2009 in connection with a defamation and disinformation lawsuit filed against him by Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong. Hor Namhong filed the lawsuit against Sam Rainsy following the May 2008 publication of this autobiography Rooted In Stone in which the opposition leader accused the minister of heading the Boeung Trabek prison in Pol Pot Regime where diplomats and government officials from the Lon Nol and Norodom Sihanouk regimes.

“The French appeal court will not allow a real offender break the law,” Koy Koung, a ministry spokesman, told DAP News Cambodia on Friday.

“Hor Namhong was also a victim in the Khmer Rouge Regime—two of his sisters and more than 40 of his relatives were killed by starvation and torture during the regime,” Koy Koung noted.

He was unsure whether Hor Namhong would travel to France himself or if he would send a representative. However, Koy Koung opined that, “The French appeal court will give real justice and fair ruling to Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong.”

Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party, on Friday declined to comment to DAP News Cambodia about the case. “I could not give any details related to this case as I so far have not got many details from Paris yet, and wait for my meeting with my leader, Sam Rainsy.”

Koul Pahna, COMFLEL director, told DAP News Cambodia that he had no details of the case. “However, both parties are much more likely to agree to the ruling of the French Appeal Court compared to a Cambodian court,” Kul Pahna added.

The Tribunal Court in Paris ordered Sam Rainsy’s publisher, Calmann-Levy, to remove from any reprinted copies a passage calling Hor Namhong a collaborator and suspect of causing the death of several people.