PHNOM PENH, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Thursday that the Southeast Asian country will amend its laws to prosecute anyone who insults the nation's King Norodom Sihamoni.
"Tomorrow (Feb. 2), the Council of Ministers will hold a meeting in the preparation for the amendments to the Constitution and the Penal Code on the punishment for the insults of the king," he said in a speech during a university graduation ceremony, without giving the details of the proposed legal changes.
Under the Cambodia's current Constitution, the king shall be "inviolable." However, the country has no law which specifically states about a punishment on the criticism of the king.
Hun Sen said that in the amendment to the Penal Code, there would be a supplementary clause stating about the punishment for insulting the monarch.
The move apparently comes after a handful of people have criticized or insulted the monarch. In October last year, former Funcinpec party Deputy Prime Minister Lu Lay Sreng criticized the king for failing to intervene in the country's political dispute.
