After missing a court date on Monday, opposition Senator Thak Lany has been summoned for a second time over a defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Hun Sen in response to a speech in which she apparently accused him of ordering the murder of political analyst Kem Ley last month.
Ms. Lany claims the audio track of a video of her speech in Ratanakkiri province was edited to incriminate her, while opposition leader Sam Rainsy is also being sued for claiming that the government was behind Kem Ley’s murder.
Ly Sophana, a deputy prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in charge of the case, said he issued the latest summons on Monday, calling for the senator to appear at 8 a.m. on August 17.
He refused to say what the court would do if Ms. Lany again failed to show.
Prosecutors have recently used the failure to heed court summonses to escalate a legal case against deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha.
Sam Sokong, Ms. Lany’s lawyer, said he would speak to his client about the latest summons, but declined to say whether she would appear.
