Rainsy charged over Samrin defamation suit

A Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor has formally charged opposition leader Sam Rainsy over a defamation suit brought by National Assembly president Heng Samrin, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Adding more weight to the slew of legal cases hanging over the CNRP president’s head, prosecutor Vong Bun Visoth forwarded the case to city court judge Ros Piseth “a few days ago” after Rainsy, living in self-imposed exile in France, failed to answer two summonses to contest the allegations, said Ky Tech, lawyer for Samrin.

“The trial may start in three months, probably in June,” Tech said.Samrin’s complaint relates to a Facebook post by Rainsy in December, which suggested the 1980s regime led initially by Samrin – a forerunner to the Cambodian People’s Party – had indicted late King Norodom Sihanouk of being a traitor and sentenced him, in absentia, to death in a show trial.

read more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-charged-over-samrin-defamation-suit