Photo depicting Hun Manet dressed in the Vietnamese army altered

Prime Minister Hun Manet has always been a hotbed of rumors and accusations on his political stage. One of which is a photo of him dressed as a Vietnamese soldier that has been posted by a Facebook user recently. However, Fact Crescendo Cambodia fact-checking revealed that the photo posted on the social media platform Facebook is in fact digitally altered.

This is about our investigation of this claim.

Social Media Claim

On March 1, 2024, a Facebook user posted a photo showing Prime Minister Hun Manet in a Vietnamese police uniform. The above photo has been shared a lot and can be believed by some Facebook users to be a real photo.

The following is an image from the user’s channel that reads “The real Hun Manet”.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Cambodia reviewed and verified the above claim through the Google Reverse Image Search application, which brings us to the following facts:

A photo of the same format and shape was found on the Vietnamese news website, VTC News, which did not show the view of the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Mr. Hun Manet, dressed in a Vietnamese police uniform.

On the other hand, the original photo published on the news website above shows the male police and female students at the Vietnam Police Academy.

The following is an image from the news website above written in Vietnamese or translated into English through Google Translate; it means “Recruitment of students at the Vietnam Police Academy”.

VTC News | Archived Link

The same photo with the same shape was also found on the Vietnamese website PHUNUTODAY. It is also stated that this is a student scene at the Vietnam People's Police Academy.

PHUNUTODAY News Report | Archived Link

Another Vietnamese news website, Báo Điện tử Chính phủ, which was published on August 16, 2022, did not show the view of Mr. Hun Manet, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, in the uniform of the Vietnamese army.

Below is a snippet captured from the website above that describes the general rules of conduct and ethics of the Vietnamese police army.

Báo Điện tử Chính phủ Link | Archived Link

The following is a comparison between the altered photo and the original photo found on social media.

The case of connecting and claiming that Mr. Hun Manet is from Vietnam and has Vietnamese blood is always seen, and it has also been frequently verified by the Fact Crescendo Cambodia fact-finding team in the past. Read the details below in Khmer:

• រូបថត​ភរិយា​លោក ហ៊ុន សែន ត្រូវ​បាន​កាត់​ត​ជាមួយ​មេដឹកនាំ​វៀតណាម ឡេ ឌឹកថូ​ (archived link)
• តើ​លោក​ ហ៊ុន​ ម៉ាណែត​ គឺ​ជា​កូន​វៀតណាម​ដូច​ការ​អះ​អាង​​មែន​ដែរ​ឬ​ទេ​?​ (archived link)
• រូប​ថត​លោក​ ហ៊ុន​ ម៉ាណែត​ ត្រូវ​បាន​កាត់​ត​​​ភ្ជាប់​ជាមួយ​​មេ​ដឹក​នាំ​វៀត​ណាម​លោក​ ឡេ​ ឌឹក​ថូ​​ (archived link)

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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found that the photos posted and claimed by the above users are not true and were altered before posting. This photo shows students of the Vietnam People's Police Academy, and it does not show Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet dressed in at all.