The president of fringe party held a press conference today to announce again that he will file a defamation lawsuit against Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong seeking half a billion riel (about $123,000) in damages for comments Mr. Namhong allegedly made about the Khmer Power Party to recently appointed US Ambassador William A. Heidt.

The planned lawsuit will also allege that Mr. Namhong had incited discrimination against the fringe party, its president Sourn Serey Ratha said.

Mr. Ratha told the handful of reporters who gathered at his party’s office for the 9am press conference, which had been announced on his Facebook page on Wednesday, that Mr. Namhong had defamed him by allegedly linking the Khmer People Power Movement to terrorist activity. 

The Khmer Power Party is an offshoot of the movement, which calls for foreign assistance, as well as donations from overseas Cambodians, to “liberate” Cambodia from “Communist rule.” 

Mr. Ratha previously announced that the planned to sue Mr. Namhong on Wednesday but did not mention the amount he would seek for compensation.

Mr. Ratha said he will file a complaint on Monday over the comments allegedly made by Mr. Namhong to US Ambassador William A. Heidt during their December 7 meeting. After the meeting Mr. Namhong told reporters that he had told Washington’s envoy that “the government allows many political parties in Cambodia, especially the party of Mr. Sourn Serey Ratha who had lived in America until he and members of his movement were pardoned for terrorist-related charges.” Mr. Namhong was referring to the Royal pardons granted in July.

“This means that I am a leader of a terrorist group, but our policy is not terrorism. We have clear policies to help the people. [Before] we were the Khmer People Power Movement, a civil politic movement, not a terrorist group,” Mr. Ratha said. 

Mr. Namhong did not respond to a request for comment.

According to a letter from Mr. Namhong lawyer, Khar Savuth, published on Facebook last Friday, the Appeals Court convicted Mr. Ratha and three members of the Khmer People Power Movement on three charges stemming from activities prior to the 2013 national election. These included conspiracy and interrupting the electoral process. Mr. Ratha called for a boycott of the election and allegedly called for the military to overthrow the ruling Cambodia People’s Party in a Facebook post from America, where he had been granted asylum. 

Mr. Ratha also said yesterday that he would accept a resolution to the dispute with Mr. Namhong outside the court, but it would have to be in the form of a written letter signed by the foreign minister. 

The Khmer People Power Movement also says Phú Quốc, an island in Vietnam, is part of Cambodia (which had been part of Cambodia before the French colonial era) and that it would make an ideal military base for Washington. 

 

From Khmer Times