Mu Sochua, right, who is facing defamation charges, speaks to a news-stand vendor in Cambodia. Jarred Ferrie / The NationalBy Jared Ferrie, Foreign Correspondent
The National Newspaper
PHNOM PENH - Mu Sochua, an opposition parliamentarian and one-time Nobel Prize nominee, will have to defend herself in court next Friday, as no lawyer is willing to defend her against a lawsuit filed by the Cambodian prime minister.
“I intend to put the justice system on trial,” she said in an interview at the headquarters of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). “We have a court totally under control of the executive branch and we expect the country to move forward?”
Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, dismissed her claims that the courts are biased. But the accusations have gained traction among human rights groups, as well as donor countries, which pledged almost US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in aid last year.
The government has launched at least nine criminal lawsuits in recent months against politicians, journalists and activists. Critics such as Human Rights Watch accuse the ruling Cambodia People’s Party of using the legal system to silence opposition voices.
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