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“I never knew, never heard, never touch anything at all with the Khmer Rouge. Mr. Sam Rainsy knew this well, I was a diplomat.” - Hor 5 Hong

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is continuing to collect additional information to fight the lawsuit brought up by Hor 5 Hong, the minister of Foreign Affairs. Sam Rainsy’s action is taking place while the French court has decided to delay the hearing in this case until 2010.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy indicated that he and his lawyer will collect other additional documents and evidence to fight against Hor 5 Hong, the vice-PM and minister of Foreign Affairs, at a time when the French court had decided to delay the hearing into this case until March 2010 because his lawyer lacks documents and proofs.

Sam Rainsy told RFA that this delay is an opportunity for gathering additional documents and proofs: “The court was reviewing about the delay issue when it was reported from the KR Tribunal in Phnom Penh that an international judge summoned 6 current Cambodian leaders. Hor Nam Hong was among the 6 summoned as witnesses who know a great deal about the KR leadership.”

According to its original plan, the French Appeal Court’s hearing were to be held on 08 October, and Sam Rainsy left to France about 2 weeks prior to the originally planned hearing, to participate in it.

Hor 5 Hong, the accuser in this lawsuit, reacted to the issue above by telling RFA at the Phnom Penh international airport on 17 October that: “Mr. Sam Rainsy asked the court to delay by showing a fake doctor letter saying that he is gravely ill. This shows that he is scared. As for the new proofs, I don’t care about them one single bit, because there are none. Let me say that the right of expression is different, it is not defamation, this, he accused me of being a criminal.”

Hor 5 Hong used to tell RFA in an interview in 2008 that the accusation of him being a KR leader by Sam Rainsy hurt him and he cannot accept this charge.

Hor 5 Hong said: “I never knew, never heard, never touch anything at all with the Khmer Rouge. Mr. Sam Rainsy knew this well, I was a diplomat.”

In January 2009, the French court handed a victory to Hor 5 Hong in his defamation lawsuit against Sam Rainsy. In that lawsuit, Hor 5 Hong demanded 100,000 euros in damage compensation from Sam Rainsy, however, the French court ordered Sam Rainsy to pay only 1 euro to Hor 5 Hong, therefore the case went on to appeal.

Hor 5 Hong brought his lawsuit at the French court after Sam Rainsy made a comment on 17 April 2008 at the Choeung Ek Memorial, located in the suburb of Phnom Penh, in which he accused Hor 5 Hong of being one of the Boeung Trabek jail directors under the KR regime, and Sam Rainsy also accused a number of other government officials of being former KR.