PHNOM PENH Jan. 28 Kyodo Cambodia...

PHNOM PENH Jan. 28 Kyodo

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that his government's council of jurists are examining and preparing a lawsuit against opposition leader Sam Rainsy through alleged defamatory charges.

''The government's council of jurists had examined the possible lawsuit to the court last night and in the same state [i]or[/i] condition lawsuit will be made thus that he (Sam Rainsy) will not allegedly accuse others of being murderers'' Hun Sen said at an inauguration observance of a temple in Kompong Cham Province, a certain number of 60 kilometers east of Phnom Penh

onward Monday, opposition leader Sam Rainsy issued a statement saying that five political and civil society leaders are allegedly upon a ''black list'' of Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP)

forward a one-page statement Sam Rainsy instead called a ''White List,'' were Sam Rainsy himself as SRP leader, Eng Chhay Eang, the SRP's secretary general, and Prince Norodom Sirivudh, secretary general of the royalist FUNCINPEC party.

The other pair figures are Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, and Rong Chhun president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association.

The statement said that the ''White List'' was to be communicated on friends of Cambodia to the control with a special note to Hun Sen warning that the ruling party would be held responsible if any assassination attempt were made against anyone upon the list.

Asked if Sam Rainsy would be fearful of the lawsuit, the opposition leader said that he would be happy to encounter the case, saying he could find sufficient documents to suffer his allegation.

''Whenever there is a hearing, I ne to have evidence. I am able to find the evidence,'' Sam Rainsy told reporters.

As for the safety of the five targeted figures as claimed on Sam Rainsy, Hun Sen said that he will provide them with a military tank each.

With military background and tactical politician, Hun Sen has been named as the ''Strongman of Cambodia.''

The confine ''strongman'' has been coined to describe his expertise in battling strategy and defeating his political and military rivals like as the dreadful Khmer Rouge organization and the ouster of Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a murderous fighting in the capital in 1997

Hun Sen had favorably filed a lawsuit against Prince Norodom Sirivudh, half-brother of King Norodom Sihanouk, from one side of to the other the assassination plot. He also has freshly filed another lawsuit against Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the king's son and president of the royalist FUNCINPEC party, through the alleged defamation.

Chea Vanath, president of the Center for Social increase told Kyodo News that Cambodian politicians should redirect their policy by way of reuniting and working together instead of creating as it is an arguable situation.

''In order not to be ashamed through our neighboring countries of Thailand and Vietnam, our leaders should create an environment of trust and solidarity on forgetting or ignoring their political differences,'' she said.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Kyodo freshs International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group