Phnom Penh (dpa) - Wrangling over proposed internal rules that will provide the foundation stone for an upcoming trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders has again stalled the long-awaited proceedings, judicial officials announced in a joint press release Saturday.
The group of local and international experts have been locked in a plenary session for the past six days but just hours before they were due to unveil the final draft rules it announced in an emailed joint statement that it had failed to come to an agreement on "a number of matters" and was in fact less than a third of the way to completion.
The announcement represents just one more hitch in a long road towards the much-anticipated trials which have stalled in the past over issues including differences between the UN and the Cambodian government and bickering over funding for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
"All of us have a strong determination to succeed in our goal of establishing a firm foundation for the court. No one wishes to delay.... Nevertheless, we regret to announce that we have been unable to complete our task of adopting internal rules for the ECCC of Cambodia," the judicial officers announced in a statement.
The statement said the internal rules were vital as a basis for the subsequent workings of the trial to provide the procedural underpinning required for every phase of the proceedings from preliminary investigation, to judicial investigation, to trial and through appeal.
The officials have been reviewing submissions and suggestions regarding a draft of the more than 110 rules released last week, which were received from non-government organizations, lawyers, scholars and interested parties from around the world, but differences of opinion on key issues have made the going slow.
"We have... become aware that we have some basic differences. In particular, we have found that we currently have substantive disagreement about several key issues," the statement said.
It said sticking points included how to integrate Cambodian law and international standards, required qualifications for defence lawyers and how the ECCC will operate within the Cambodian court structure, as well as the role of victims and civil party rights.
The Cambodian Bar Association has been a particularly strident critic of many aspects of the proposed proceedings and has already threatened to boycott unless its concerns are addressed.
The ECCC statement did not outline when the issues might be resolved.
The 56.3 million dollar joint UN-Cambodian government sponsored trial of a yet to be determined number of mainly ailing and aging former Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity has been budgeted to fit a tight three-year timeframe which ECCC spokespeople have already said will not be extended.
Up to 2 million Cambodians died during the 1975 to 1979 Khmer Rouge regime. The movement's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 and former military commander and prime candidate for trial, Ta Mok, died in a military hospital earlier this year.
Advocates of a trial have urged haste in finding justice or risk never having a trial at all, but the defence team has already expressed doubts that the timeframe is adequate to ensure fair trials and bitter disagreements between some international and local experts including lawyers over how the ECCC should run have now further delayed matters, although the prosecution phase is already underway.
The group of local and international experts have been locked in a plenary session for the past six days but just hours before they were due to unveil the final draft rules it announced in an emailed joint statement that it had failed to come to an agreement on "a number of matters" and was in fact less than a third of the way to completion.
The announcement represents just one more hitch in a long road towards the much-anticipated trials which have stalled in the past over issues including differences between the UN and the Cambodian government and bickering over funding for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
"All of us have a strong determination to succeed in our goal of establishing a firm foundation for the court. No one wishes to delay.... Nevertheless, we regret to announce that we have been unable to complete our task of adopting internal rules for the ECCC of Cambodia," the judicial officers announced in a statement.
The statement said the internal rules were vital as a basis for the subsequent workings of the trial to provide the procedural underpinning required for every phase of the proceedings from preliminary investigation, to judicial investigation, to trial and through appeal.
The officials have been reviewing submissions and suggestions regarding a draft of the more than 110 rules released last week, which were received from non-government organizations, lawyers, scholars and interested parties from around the world, but differences of opinion on key issues have made the going slow.
"We have... become aware that we have some basic differences. In particular, we have found that we currently have substantive disagreement about several key issues," the statement said.
It said sticking points included how to integrate Cambodian law and international standards, required qualifications for defence lawyers and how the ECCC will operate within the Cambodian court structure, as well as the role of victims and civil party rights.
The Cambodian Bar Association has been a particularly strident critic of many aspects of the proposed proceedings and has already threatened to boycott unless its concerns are addressed.
The ECCC statement did not outline when the issues might be resolved.
The 56.3 million dollar joint UN-Cambodian government sponsored trial of a yet to be determined number of mainly ailing and aging former Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity has been budgeted to fit a tight three-year timeframe which ECCC spokespeople have already said will not be extended.
Up to 2 million Cambodians died during the 1975 to 1979 Khmer Rouge regime. The movement's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 and former military commander and prime candidate for trial, Ta Mok, died in a military hospital earlier this year.
Advocates of a trial have urged haste in finding justice or risk never having a trial at all, but the defence team has already expressed doubts that the timeframe is adequate to ensure fair trials and bitter disagreements between some international and local experts including lawyers over how the ECCC should run have now further delayed matters, although the prosecution phase is already underway.
3 comments:
hey cpp is in power and in control..what can you do...and guess who the khmer rouge ...red like blood...just bow and kiss their ass...and keep all fund to help the poor....
Million cambodians put their trust on all of you and the UN hopfully justice will come. But now, you are all seem to be useless. Khmers are always corruption, the justice systems are corruption. How can cambodia fight the mountain crimes if the justice itself could not stand? Cambodia don't have the law to fight crime, because you are all undereducated, lack of skill. If you want to trial Khmer Rouge leaders by international law, You have to comply with international lawyers nd UN. Becouse the Khmer Rouge leaders were doing internationally criminal activities. And international laws were designed for international crimes and massive crimes. International laws had detail range, more incentive and very coordinated to fit justice. You don't want to use cambodian laws, because cambodian laws and justice itself are crippled. And all of you don't have a smart brain to make a law. Your brain is good for corruptions, stealings and killing your own people. If you want to trial Khmer Rouge leaders by cambodian laws; please don't bother asking UN to help you. The cambodian law is just for putting Bourn samnang and sam oeurn in jail. And the draft law is so stupid, all of you didn't even know which one right or wrong. it is a waste of time. This is going to be a trial of comedy or a soap opera.
By Norodom Reajeasie
Huh? Look who's talking! All of you Norodom (or so-called Sdach or King) cracks me up.
Read my lips, NORODOM:
MONARCHY IS A LOST CAUSE for Khmer!
and you're one of them???
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