A man was charged yesterday by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly posting a death threat against Prime Minister Hun Sen on social media.

Suspect Rom Chamroeun, 28, according to screenshots published by pro-government outlet Fresh News, posted a picture of a pistol, and one of himself posing with the weapon, alongside the text: “Hun Sen, somehow I will kill you, [and] if you are not dead, Cambodia cannot find peace . . . I promise my brothers and sisters that I will shoot Hun Sen one day.”

Chamroeun goes on to claim the prime minister, his wife and children are ethnically youn, an often derogatory term used to describe the Vietnamese – a sensitive subject that has drawn the premier’s ire in the past, particularly with regard to his children’s parentage. Chamroeun’s post then went on to seemingly imply that he had an affair with Hun Sen’s wife.

Court spokesman Ly Sophana yesterday said the deputy municipal prosecutor had opened the investigation and charged Rom Chamroeun with making a “death threat” under Article 233 of the Criminal Code, and added that the case has now been sent to an investigating judge.

“The person had posted a message on Facebook to threaten to kill Samdech Techo Hun Sen,” he said.

The case is the latest in a string of arrests and prosecutions relating to alleged threats against high-ranking government officials.