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Sam Rainsy's letter to The Cambodia Daily about Hor Namhong's defamation lawsuits

September 6, 2011

The Editor
The Cambodia Daily
Phnom Penh


Sir,

In “Sam Rainsy’s Defamation Lawsuit To Be Reheard” (September 5, page
27), it was reported that “The case was first heard in April without
Mr Rainsy or his lawyer’s participation, and a verdict has yet to be
delivered.”

Actually, a guilty verdict was made public with a two-year
imprisonment sentence handed down to me on April 25 by the Phnom Penh
Municipal Court in relation to the defamation and disinformation
lawsuit filed by Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong.

On May 5, my lawyer wrote to the President of the Court to oppose my
condemnation in absentia on the basis of the universal judicial
principle “Non bis in idem” (no one shall be twice tried for the same
offence).

As a matter of fact, in relation to another defamation lawsuit filed
against me in France by the same Mr Hor Namhong, which is very similar
in substance to the one he filed in Cambodia, the French Supreme Court
("Cour de Cassation") on April 27 declared I was not guilty of
anything and Mr Hor Namhong finally and definitively lost his case
before the French tribunal.

Therefore, the summons I received from the Cambodian tribunal to
attend a “rehearing” of the case later this month, is a violation of
the “Non bis in idem” principle, especially in light of the difference
in the degree of independence and respectability enjoyed respectively by the French Court and the Cambodian Court.

Sincerely,

Sam Rainsy
Elected Member of Parliament
Paris