PHNOM PENH, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian court on Thursday ordered former deputy prime minister Lu Lay Sreng to pay 125,000 U.S. dollars in compensation to Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen in a defamation case, according to a verdict.
Hun Sen filed a defamation lawsuit against Lay Sreng on Oct. 24 last year after the ex-deputy prime minister accused him of providing 20,000 U.S. dollars to each of royalist Funcinpec Party officials to join the parliament following the dissolution of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.
In the lawsuit, the prime minister demanded Lay Sreng to pay him 500 million riel (125,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation.
"After examining document and evidence, the court found Lu Lay Sreng guilty of defaming Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and ordered him to pay 500 million riel to the prime minister," Phnom Penh Municipal Court presiding judge Y Thavrak read a verdict after a one-hour hearing.
Lu Lay Sreng, 79, was a former deputy prime minister in the 2000s when he was a senior member of the royalist Funcinpec Party, which is in alliance with Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.
He fled Cambodia for Thailand on Oct. 23 in 2017, a day before the prime minister sued him.
