Singapore court orders blogger to pay PM nearly $22,000 for legal costs

Speaker Roy Ngerng, of online blog The Heart Truths, addresses the crowd during a protest against new licensing regulations imposed by the government for online news sites, at Hong Lim Park in Singapore June 8, 2013. REUTERS/Edgar Su

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singapore court has ordered a blogger to pay S$29,000 (14,334 pounds) to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as legal costs after Lee won a defamation case late last year.

Lee won a High Court defamation case against blogger Roy Ngerng, 33, in November, the first time the city-state's leader sued an online critic.