CPP Asks Rainsy to Prove His Accusation

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) yesterday demanded proof from opposition president Sam Rainsy that slain political analyst Kem Ley was assassinated because he planned to join the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which Mr. Rainsy claimed on the weekend. In a speech given in France on Sunday, Mr. Rainsy, who has been in self-exile to avoid arrest on defamation charges since late last year, claimed Mr. Ley, who was shot in the capital in broad daylight on July 10, was killed because a Cambodian political party feared he would join the opposition.

Mr. Rainsy also went on the record shortly after the murder to say Mr. Ley died in an act of political terrorism. CPP spokesman Sok Ey San responded to Mr. Rainsy’s accusations by saying that if the opposition leader did not demonstrate proof that there was political involvement in Mr. Ley’s murder, defamation charges may be brought against him.

The CPP rebuke comes despite Mr. Rainsy not having explicitly mentioned the ruling party in his remarks, simply referring to the party responsible for Mr. Ley’s assassination as “the other party” and its officials as “they.” “If he had no evidence, that means he has colored the truth and defamed the CPP. We have no plan to sue him, but we will let the public consider his accusation and his intention that [the murder] is clearly politically motivated,” Mr. Ey San said.

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