PHNOM PENH, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Monday allowed former Deputy Prime Minister Lu Lay Sreng to return home after more than one year in self-imposed exile to avoid a defamation case.
"Please come, no one arrests you, come to celebrate the Khmer New Year (in mid-April)," Hun Sen said in a speech during a university graduation ceremony here.
He advised Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana to prepare a pardon request for Sreng if it is necessary.
Hun Sen's clemency came after Sreng posted a Facebook video clip abroad on Thursday, asking for a pardon from him, whom he had previously worked with as a deputy prime minister.
Sreng fled the country in 2017, a day before Hun Sen sued him for defamation.
At that time, Sreng accused Hun Sen of providing 20,000 U.S. dollars to each of 41 royalist Funcinpec Party officials to join the parliament following the dissolution of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.
In January last year, a Cambodian court convicted Sreng in absentia of defamation and ordered him to pay 125,000 U.S. dollars in compensation to Hun Sen.
