Ou Virak, a respected political analyst, is to be sued by the ruling party for voicing his opinion on present political events. It seems that this is an attempt to pressure political commentators into self-censorship and silence criticism of the CPP. IMHO, they might learn something if they would listen to their critics instead of automatically trying to shut them up, but never mind, bring on the bulldozers.
And if this is the mindset in place, that any discordant voices must be silenced, then how long will media inside Cambodia be able to continue to report on alleged defamation cases before they are also accused of conveying slanderous or libelous statements ? It's still a while until the elections.

[quote... The CPP on Monday filed a defamation complaint against one of the country’s most prominent political analysts for suggesting that the ruling party was using an increasingly litigious sex scandal involving CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha as a means to damage the political opposition.
]...“On April 24, 2016, during a Radio Free Asia broadcast, Ou Virak made a defamatory comment stating that: ‘The strategy of the ruling party now is to try to put pressure on Mr. Kem Sokha and his finances,’” the complaint says, going on to quote an RFA article based on the interview.
“The activeness of the CPP in subduing its political competitor in such way will make it lose a lot of popularity, and some officials in this party are also not fond of this tactic,” the complaint quotes Mr. Virak as saying...Contacted by telephone on Monday, Mr. Virak said he had only been offering an opinion about the political situation, and as such was not guilty of defamation...

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan, who signed the defamation complaint against Mr. Virak on behalf of the party, said on Monday that harsh action was necessary in order to prevent the political analyst from saying similar things in the future...
Early on Monday morning, Mr. HE posted a message to his Facebook page warning political commentators not to affect the “honor and dignity” of the CPP, threatening legal action against offenders.
“I appeal to members of the Cambodian People’s Party and leaders at all levels: Prepare lawyers to be ready to file lawsuits with the court against those cases of slander against the Cambodian People’s Party,” the prime minister wrote...[/quote]
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp- ... st-111738/

Nothing new, just more intense because of the election. See his.son had a successful junket to N. America.

Yep, JB that one. Out of curiosity, what would you attribute the muzzling to?