Mu Sochua’s Immunity Could Be Restored

Stripped of immunity since 2009 when Prime Minister Hun Sen Sued her for defamation, Mu Sochua is now eligible to ask for reinstatement   

The parliamentarian immunity that was stripped from SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua in 2009 during the lawmaker’s legal battle with Prime Minister Hun Sen could be restored as early as next month, a CPP official and Ms Sochua said yesterday. After announcing in April the prime minister for allegedly making degrading comments about her, Mr Hun Sen sued Ms Sochua for defamation, and her parliamentary immunity was lifted by a vote of the National Assembly on June 22 that year. Ms Sochua was found guilty and lost two subsequent appeals against the decision. Although she refused to pay a court-ordered fine, Phnom Penh Municipal Court said in August 2010 that it would deduct the fine from her salary instead of jailing her for refusing to pay. CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said yesterday that as of this month, it had been one year since Ms Sochua paid off her court ordered fine and, therefore, she is now eligible to ask the appeal court to reinstate her parliamentary immunity. “She has to tell the Ministry of Justice that she has completed the rehabilitation, and the justice minister will ask the Assembly to give [immunity] back to her,” Mr Yeap said. Ms Socchua said that she would send a letter to the Justice Ministry requesting her immunity be restored in early December after she returns from a trip to Egypt to observe the first national elections in the country since the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak. Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said that the rules on the stripping and restoring of parliamentarian immunity are not clear, but Ms Sochua’s immunity should have been restored as soon as the court found her guilty, as there was no jail sentence. “There are no clear rules on that,” he said. “At the end of the court proceedings, she should be granted her immunity.”