Cambodia's opposition lawmakers returned to the Parliament session on Monday, ending the six-month boycott after its three members were stripped of parliamentary immunity on February.

Sixteen of the 24 lawmakers of opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) attended Monday's National Assembly session reopened after a three- month vocation, except Cheam Channy, who is currently in prison, Sam Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile in Paris, and other lawmakers who are overseas.

Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said Monday that their return to parliament could help ease political tension in the country. While opposition lawmaker Yim Sovann said they noticed the increasing corruption activities after they left the parliament, "so we must return to the parliament session to prevent the situation from getting worse."

Cambodian National Assembly on Feb. 3 voted to suspend Sam Rainsy and other two opposition lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity, in an attempt to allow several defamation lawsuits against them to proceed.

Sam Rainsy faces a number of lawsuits including one of slandering Prime Minister Hun Sen by alleging the government was plotting to kill several prominent political figures.

Meanwhile, Sam Rainsy and Chea Poch face libel suits launched by FUNCINPEC party headed by Prince Norodom Ranariddh for alleging that Prince Ranariddh took bribes to join a coalition government with the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the three "violated the rights of others."

Source: Xinhua