Top court rejects Son Chhay’s appeal in defamation suit


Buth Reaksmey Kongkea 

The Supreme Court on February 23, 2023 rejected Candlelight Party (CP) vice-president Son Chhay’s appeal to overturn a lower court ruling ordering him to pay $1 million in compensation to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and a fine of $5,000 for defaming the CPP and the National Election Committee (NEC).

Presiding Judge Chiv Keng stated that the Supreme Court has decided to uphold the ruling of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court because the verdict was right and in accordance with laws. 

Judge Keng said that the lower court’s conviction was appropriate considering the offence the opposition party leader had committed.   

Judge Keng said that Chhay, 66, was charged with public defamation under Article 305 of the Criminal Code. 

He added that Chhay was sued by the NEC and the CPP over an interview appeared in the Cambodia Daily on June 7, in which he was quoted as saying that the preliminarily results of 2022 communal elections organised by the NEC were not independent and did not reflect the “true will of the people” and “there were ballots theft”. 

Son Chhay could not be reached for comment yesterday.

However, Ket Khy, one of his defence lawyers, said yesterday that his client has closed the legal battle following the Supreme Court verdict. 

Khy said that his client is now waiting to see the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment. 



Ky Tech, the lawyer representing CPP, said yesterday that so far, Son Chhay’s properties had been already temporarily seized by the court’s warrant. 

Tech said that the judgment of the Supreme Court becomes final immediately after the announcement of the judgment.  

He said that the next legal measures must be taken after a final verdict from the Supreme Court.

The Phnom Penh Appeal Court on December 14 last year upheld his conviction but increased his compensation for the CPP from 3,000 million riel to 4,000 million rile (about $1 million). It also increased his fines to $5,000 each in both defamation cases.

 

 


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