Court issues arrest warrant for Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy

AFP / ABC News | 13 November 2015

 

 

Photo: An arrest warrant has been issued for Sam Rainsy. (AFP: Tang Chhin Sothy)

Related Story: Cambodia marks 40 years since fall of capital to Khmer Rouge

A Cambodian court has issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Sam Rainsy over an old defamation sentence which he never served, in a new surge of political tension in the kingdom.

The order comes a day after strongman prime minister Hun Sen blasted Mr Rainsy for urging him to move towards a peaceful exit from office after more than three decades of rule.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court has ordered police "to arrest and bring the convict Sam Rainsy to serve the [two-year defamation] sentence in jail", the arrest warrant said.

Mr Rainsy was sentenced for defamation in this 2011 case while in self-exile from Cambodia, after accusing the country's foreign minister of being a former Khmer Rouge member.

It was one of a string of convictions against the opposition leader, the main rival to Hun Sen.

Mr Rainsy has always claimed the convictions were politically motivated and only returned to Cambodia ahead of 2013 elections after a royal pardon for criminal convictions.

Video: Beverley O'Connor interviews Sam Rainsy in August (The World)
 

Following the warrant being issued on Friday, it was not immediately clear if Mr Rainsy had already been pardoned in the case.

Up to 2 million people died of overwork, starvation or execution under the brutal Khmer Rouge, which outlawed religion, property rights, currency and schools during its 1975-1979 rule.

Hun Sen was a Khmer Rouge cadre before he turned against the regime.

During his visit to Japan on Tuesday, Mr Rainsy called for a peaceful transfer of power in the country's next elections, urging the international community to pressure Hun Sen to move towards a peaceful exit from office after accusing his party of widespread fraud in the last polls.

The opposition leader is currently in South Korea, according to local media reports.