PARIS, Sept 1, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Longstanding Cambodian opposition figure Sam
Rainsy will face a French court on Thursday in defamation cases brought
against him by top officials in his home country.

Rainsy, 73, was targeted with two separate complaints by Cambodian Prime
Minister Hun Sen and his son-in-law and deputy national police chief, Dy
Vichea, over Facebook posts dating back to 2019.

Hun Sen contests Rainsy's allegation that he was behind the 2008 death in a
helicopter crash of national police chief Hok Lundy, who was Dy Vichea's
father.

"Hun Sun killed Hok Lundy using a bomb placed inside his helicopter," Rainsy
claimed on Facebook.

The leader of Cambodia's government "decided to murder Hok Lundy because he
knew too much about Hun Sen's misdeeds", he added.

Dy Vichea has brought a second case against Rainsy over a separate 2019
Facebook post, which will also be heard on Thursday. The judges could take
several weeks to deliver a verdict.

Luc Brussolet, a lawyer representing both Cambodian officials, said he
expected the court to "find the remarks in question defamatory".

But Rainsy's lawyer Jessica Finelle told AFP that judges ought to "recognise
that it is in the public interest for Sam Rainsy to denounce crimes committed
by Hun Sen within a dictatorship".

- 'Exonerate him' -

Her client "has been persecuted for 30 years by Hun Sen. The only weapon
remaining to him is freedom of expression, to testify about what he has
experienced and condemn what political opponents and human rights defenders
are suffering in Cambodia", she said.

Rainsy was one of the founders of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the
country's main opposition movement.

He spent years fighting Hun Sen -- who has ruled for the past 37 years --
before seeking refuge in 2015 in France, where he is a dual national.

Rainsy is the target of many court cases in Cambodia, where he says he is
being persecuted for political reasons.

The government there accused him of an attempted coup when he sought to
return in 2019.

"In his home country, Sam Rainsy is the victim of a slew of trials, the
regime is trying to muzzle him," said another of his lawyers, Mathias
Chichportich.

The French tribunal should "enshrine Sam Rainsy's right to express his
political struggle" and "exonerate him", he added.

"His words are founded on a solid factual basis."

Although Rainsy's party performed strongly in the 2013 elections, it was
dissolved four years later.

In 2018, Hun Sen's movement swept every seat in Cambodia's parliament, a
result that was fiercely contested.

Since then, increasing numbers of dissidents have been arrested and
prosecuted.

Dozens of opposition figures were sentenced in a mass trial in June, with
Rainsy receiving an eight-year prison sentence in his absence.

He has already been jailed in his absence for terms of 25 and 10 years for
trying to topple Hun Sen, who is expected to run again in new elections next
July.