PHNOM PENH — A Cambodian court issued an arrest warrant on Friday for opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is currently abroad, in connection with a 2013 defamation and incitement conviction for which he had previously been pardoned.
The warrant issued by Si Vanny, deputy prosecutor attached to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, ordered authorities to seek and arrest Sam Rainsy and put him in jail.
The order was based on a 2011 lower-court ruling, upheld by the Court of Appeals on March 12, 2013, for defamation and incitement to discrimination filed by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong. Sam Rainsy was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 8 million riels (approximately US$2,000).
Despite the ruling made in 2013, Sam Rainsy was not arrested or put in jail but was pardoned by Prime Minister Hun Sen as part of a national reconciliation process before the general election held that year. Prior to the pardon, Sam Rainsy had been living in exile in France for fear he would be arrested if he returned home.
The new arrest order was issued one day after Hun Sen warned Sam Rainsy that he may face legal action for "defamation" over his recent comments made while he was in Japan. Sam Rainsy had told reporters that Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party may want to avoid any democratic elections in the future and called for international help to not let Hun Sen cancel the upcoming commune and national elections, scheduled for 2017 and 2018.
However, the arrest order was made just hours after a lawyer representing Hor Namhong made a request to the court to enforce the ruling.
At an event held on April 17, 2008, to recall the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime in Phnom Penh, Sam Rainsy allegedly accused Hor Namhong of being one of the Khmer Rouge cadres.
Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha are currently on trips to Japan and South Korea.
The political climate in Cambodia has become heated in recent weeks following physical attacks on two opposition lawmakers and the removal of Kem Sokha from the position of first vice chairman of the National Assembly.
Hun Sen has also take issue with Sam Rainsy over the latter's comments suggesting that the success of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in the general election was good for democracy in Cambodia and may lead to Hun Sen's defeat in the 2018 election.
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