PHNOM PENH (FN), Jan. 13 — Upon a summon issued by Prosecutor Meas Chanpiseth on Dec. 25, the head of a nascent political party appeared in Phnom Penh Municipal Court this morning to defend his legal case against a senior government official. 

Soun Sereyrotha, President of Khmer Power Party (KPP) filed a legal complaint against Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong for defamation and inciting discrimination on the ground that the minister described him and his fellow party members as terrorists. 

However, Hor Namhong’s lawyer told the press that the minister’s remarks could not be taken as defamation, since they were based on the court’s verdict sentencing Sereyrotha and his other three fellows to imprisonment for treason.