PHNOM PENH, June 3 (FN) -- Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party vice president and lawmaker Kem Sokha will not present himself in the court on June 14, party spokesman Yem Ponharith said on Friday.

"His Excellency Kem Sokha has confirmed again and again that he is a lawmaker, he has parliamentary immunity, he will not go, so, on June 14, he will not go, but we are still studying legal procedures with our lawyers to understand about law implementation whether the implementation is fully correct or not," he said in a press briefing at the party's headquarters on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh.

The reaction was made after Phnom Penh Municipal Court's Investigating Judge Thann Leng on Thursday issued a warrant ordering Kem Sokha to present himself in the court on June 14 for questioning over a case of "refusal to appear".

The warrant was issued after Kem Sokha ignored court summonses twice over a prostitution case involving his alleged mistress.

Last week, the court prosecutor requested police to arrest Kem Sokha for committing a "red-handed" crime of ignoring the summonses. The prosecutor charged him with "refusal to appear" under the article 538 of the Penal Code.

Under the charge, Kem Sokha could face a prison term of between one and six months.

Kem Sokha has been hiding in the party's headquarters since Thursday last week to avoid the arrest, as dozens of his supporters have gathered at the headquarters to protect him.

The accusation against Kem Sokha stems from leaked audio clips of telephone conversation between him and his alleged mistress in February. In the clips, they discussed sex, pregnancy and paying for an apartment.

Since the sex scandal broke out, Kem Sokha has not publicly commented on the veracity of the audio recordings; instead, he advised supporters not to react to provocations.

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