Cambodia's foreign minister has strongly protested to US officials over a leaked diplomatic cable repeating allegations that he was a former Khmer Rouge prison chief, his department said Friday. Hor Namhong summoned the US Charge d'Affaires in Phnom Penh, Jeff Daigle, on Thursday to complain about the "highly defamatory" 2002 cable, which was released via WikiLeaks this week, the foreign ministry statement said.
In the meeting, the Cambodian asked Daigle "to convey to the US State Department his strong protest" over the cable, "which is full of unacceptable maligned indictment", the ministry said.
The cable cites an "undated, unattributed report" on file at the US embassy, which said Hor Namhong took charge of Boeung Trabek camp in the capital after the brutal communist movement took power in 1975. "Hor Namhong came back to Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge took over, but was not killed because he was a schoolmate of Ieng Sary," the report said, referring to the regime's ex-foreign minister now on trial for genocide.
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