Mu Sochua requests court postponement

THE Appeal Court has summoned opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua to appear on August 18 for questioning in relation to her defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen, but the Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian, who left for the United States on Wednesday, has requested a postponement until late September.
I would like to inform His Excellency the Prosecutor General that I have to leave for the United States to have medical treatment on August 5, and will return on September 20," she said in a letter to Prosecutor General Ouk Savouth dated Wednesday.

Mu Sochua's lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen, filed following comments made by Hun Sen during a speech in Kampot province in April, was dismissed by Phnom Penh Municipal Court on June 10, a decision she is now attempting to overturn.

On Wednesday, Mu Sochua also appealed against the Municipal Court's verdict convicting her of defaming the prime minister and ordering her to pay 16.5 million riels (US$3,937) in fines and compensation.

Ouk Savouth said Thursday that her request to the Appeal Court might not be successful, since her letter lacked sufficient details about her trip to North America.

"We don't know whether she is going to the US or not. If she has appealed and she does not take care of her appeal, that is her business," he said.