CPP Honorary President Heng Samrin said Thursday that he plans to file a defamation lawsuit against SRP activists in Kompong Cham province after they displayed a banner describing the Jan 7, 1979 ouster of the Khmer Rouge as an invasion by Vietnam.
CPP supporters lodged a complaint to Kompong Cham’s provincial election commission Tuesday claiming the CPP had been defamed after SRP supporters in Cheung Prey district’s Sramor commune displayed a banner on their campaign car on March 25 that read “Jan 7 is the day that the Vietnamese invaded,” said Neang Neng Huon, PEC director.
He added that two other SRP banners discussing Jan 7 and the Vietnamese “invasion” were displayed on another campaign car and in the SRP’s Sramor commune office.
Ouch Serey Vuth, chief of advocacy for the SRP in Cheung Prey, said the banners had not mentioned any other political party and therefore didn’t violate electoral rules.
He said the signs have not been taken down, and also claimed that CPP activists had displayed their own banner that compared those who criticize Jan 7 to Pol Pot.
Heng Samrin said that no matter how electoral officials decide to resolve the case, he will take the matter to the provincial court.
