Marcel Lemonde, co-investigating judge for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, ponders during a press conference in the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 7, 2006. Judges and prosecutors for the U.N.-supported tribunal on Friday pledged to uphold international standards as they are about to begin their task aimed at prosecuting surviving Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity. (AP Phpto/Heng Sinith) dpa
Phnom Penh - The prosecution stage of the long-awaited trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders will finally begin Monday, but indictments will be much slower to come, the international co-prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers, Robert Petit, said Friday.
Speaking at a press conference in Phnom Penh introducing the judicial officers set to preside over the hearings, Petit and principal defender Rupert Stilbeck both warned that no assumptions of guilt would be made, and that to prosecute, indict and defend those accused to international standard would be a slow and complex process.
'Let me assure you, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is real and all of the judicial officials sitting before you today are dedicated to its success,' Petit said.
However, he said 'the structure and concept of this court is unlike any history, and as a result we will face many challenges in our work.'
'For my office, the Office of the Co-Prosecutor ... we begin work on Monday. It does not mean, however, that indictments will be issued on Tuesday.'
The difficulties facing the court became apparent even as Friday's gathering progressed, as organizers rushed to find a translator for French-speaking co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde as he spoke of the urgent need to meld a range of different legal systems in a chaotic hour-long press conference conducted at times simultaneously in English, Khmer and French.
Defender Stilbeck made it clear that international standards of justice meant that all defendants had the right to a fair trial, a presumption of innocence and effective legal representation and that these rights would be strictly enforced.
'These fundamental principals are even more important perhaps in these trials than ever before because more than ever before there is an expectation that these people are guilty,' he said.
He dismissed concerns about the impartiality of some Cambodian judges marring future verdicts, saying the ECCC code of ethics allowed for this to be questioned and for any judicial member who failed to meet international standards to be removed.
'At every other criminal tribunal of this nature there have been challenged to judges based on impartiality ... I expect similar challenges at this tribunal based on the international standards that will apply,' he said.
He said these standards had proved adequate in the past, noting that the president of the crimes against humanity trial in Sierra Leone had been removed after such challenges.
However despite a prosecution process slated to take six months to complete now lying ahead and stringent attention to the highest standards of justice being observed, the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders would not be allowed to become bogged down, co-investigating judge You Bunleng said.
'This tribunal has a limited budget and the timeframe is definitive,' Bunleng said.
The 56.3 million dollar tribunal, budgeted to take three years to complete, now looks certain to get underway 31 years after the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge's Democratic Kampuchea regime took power and began one of the bloodiest genocides of the last century in a drive to turn the nation into an agrarian utopia.
Up to 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, disease, overwork, torture and execution during the 1975 to 1979 rule.
Speaking at a press conference in Phnom Penh introducing the judicial officers set to preside over the hearings, Petit and principal defender Rupert Stilbeck both warned that no assumptions of guilt would be made, and that to prosecute, indict and defend those accused to international standard would be a slow and complex process.
'Let me assure you, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is real and all of the judicial officials sitting before you today are dedicated to its success,' Petit said.
However, he said 'the structure and concept of this court is unlike any history, and as a result we will face many challenges in our work.'
'For my office, the Office of the Co-Prosecutor ... we begin work on Monday. It does not mean, however, that indictments will be issued on Tuesday.'
The difficulties facing the court became apparent even as Friday's gathering progressed, as organizers rushed to find a translator for French-speaking co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde as he spoke of the urgent need to meld a range of different legal systems in a chaotic hour-long press conference conducted at times simultaneously in English, Khmer and French.
Defender Stilbeck made it clear that international standards of justice meant that all defendants had the right to a fair trial, a presumption of innocence and effective legal representation and that these rights would be strictly enforced.
'These fundamental principals are even more important perhaps in these trials than ever before because more than ever before there is an expectation that these people are guilty,' he said.
He dismissed concerns about the impartiality of some Cambodian judges marring future verdicts, saying the ECCC code of ethics allowed for this to be questioned and for any judicial member who failed to meet international standards to be removed.
'At every other criminal tribunal of this nature there have been challenged to judges based on impartiality ... I expect similar challenges at this tribunal based on the international standards that will apply,' he said.
He said these standards had proved adequate in the past, noting that the president of the crimes against humanity trial in Sierra Leone had been removed after such challenges.
However despite a prosecution process slated to take six months to complete now lying ahead and stringent attention to the highest standards of justice being observed, the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders would not be allowed to become bogged down, co-investigating judge You Bunleng said.
'This tribunal has a limited budget and the timeframe is definitive,' Bunleng said.
The 56.3 million dollar tribunal, budgeted to take three years to complete, now looks certain to get underway 31 years after the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge's Democratic Kampuchea regime took power and began one of the bloodiest genocides of the last century in a drive to turn the nation into an agrarian utopia.
Up to 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, disease, overwork, torture and execution during the 1975 to 1979 rule.
1 comment:
As i told you before.. and it's true now ..the faith of the khmer rouge is base upon the $$( millions drain from the poors)..55 millions just wasted..i heard most of the educators, and others bragged that these trail is to set an example for the world. What world?..for the UFO or what? this is not the first time of the world tribunal,.. ww one,ww 2,and Bosnia some years ago,..the hetler, the stallin, and other leaders, who've committed crime angainst the humanity,,,i don't see any change..but still killing..the china, the n. korea, africa, Burmars, and other countries..almost around the world..so why don't the UN care about khmer or at least treat khmer
a little bit better,,no, no b/c they are not khmer, one reason, other reason khmer never part of the world and they nver recognise, that's..khmer have no resources to benefit the world too, all the government do is begging for more money just to stay rich and control the people so that can make money..this country( Cambodia ) became the welfare state from the UN, and the doners..if i'm not wrong..think: if there is no million poor khmers in Cambodia..do you think the UN/US odr world banks will funds, or give the money to Cambodia?
..all khmers have to think...for these trail even some of the khmer who live in Cambodia right now will still don't about it, even the trial is over..
so what about the 55 million dollars... what about the poors..the UN just use the poor khmers money just to show of it streng,, that's why an American don't follow/listen in iraq war.. eeyore!!
Post a Comment