Cambodia senator handed 18 months in PM defamation case

 AFP / Channel News Asia | 17 November 2016

PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian opposition senator was handed a 18-month jail sentence Thursday (Nov 17) over a defamation case filed by premier Hun Sen.

The prime minister sued senator Thak Lany in August over a video clip allegedly showing her accusing Hun Sen of orchestrating the killing of Kem Ley, a prominent government critic.

The brazen daylight murder of the pro-democracy activist in the capital Phnom Penh in July sent fear rippling across a country with a history of political assassinations.

Senator Thak Lany, who is believed to have fled the country shortly after she was charged, was convicted Thursday in absentia of defamation and inciting chaos with her remarks.

"After examining documents and evidence, the court decides to sentence Thak Lany... to one year and a half in prison," Judge Y Thavrak said at a Phnom Penh court.

A former soldier has been charged with Kem Ley's murder but police have kept a tight lid on the details of their investigation.

Suspicions that the killing was ordered from higher up continue to simmer in a country where critics have long been silenced by the political elite.

Hun Sen has a history of ruthlessly undercutting his rivals and has intensified a crackdown on critics ahead of 2018 polls.

Rights groups say he has made use of a pliant court system to target and jail his rivals, including a slew of opposition politicians and at least 20 human rights workers.