New Defamation Charges Levied Against Political Opposition

The president of Cambodia’s Candlelight Party, Teav Vannol, was recently ordered to pay over US$1.5 million in fines for defaming the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet. On July 25, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Teav guilty of “public defamation” for comments made in a February 2024 interview with foreign media, when he said the Kingdom was "getting worse in terms of democracy" under Prime Minister Hun Manet. The July ruling requires Teav to pay six billion riels (around US$1.5 million) to the CPP and an additional 10 million riels (US$2,400) to the Cambodian state. 

The Candlelight Party is currently Cambodia’s largest opposition party, formed out of opposition parties that were dissolved ahead of the 2018 elections. Candlelight was barred from contesting the 2023 general elections, which secured Prime Minister Hun Manet’s rise to power, because it was unable to produce its original registration papers. 

This is not the first time Cambodian opposition leaders have been sanctioned under defamation laws. In 2022, Son Chhay, then deputy leader of the Candlelight Party, was fined over US$1 million for claiming the Kingdom’s National Election Committee was biased in favor of the CPP. 

This most recent defamation ruling against the opposition leader comes on the heels of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s conviction of environmental activists under lèse-majesté on July 2. That decision represented the first and only invocation of laws that criminalize defaming the King since Prime Minister Hun Manet came to power. Read the Council’s previous update on that here.