Sean Visoth (L) Director of the Khmer Rouge tribunal's Office of Aministration, Ruper Skilbeck (C) principal defender, and Robert Petit (R). (AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)Monday, February 19, 2007
ECCC Cools to NGO After Kickback Charge
By Erika Kinetz and Pin Sisovann
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
"You can't ban OSJI or anyone else from the building ... We still consider them valuable partners" - ECCC Peter Foster
Although staff from the Open Society Justice Initiative are no longer welcome at the administration office of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the rest of the court's facilities remain open to them, court officials said Sunday.
"The court is a public place," said Helen Jarvis, ECCC public affairs chief, in an interview.
Cabinet Minister Sok An announced Friday that the tribunal's administration office had informed him that it would no longer allow entry to OSJI, after the legal NGO called for a speedy and thorough investigation into allegations of corruption and kickbacks at the ECCC. Several ECCC officials have denied the allegations.
ECCC public affairs officer Peter Foster said Sunday that he would meet Tuesday with Heather Ryan, OSJI's trial monitor in Phnom Penh, as previously planned.
"You can't ban OSJI or anyone else from the building," he said. "We still consider them valuable partners."
Jarvis emphasized that restricting the NGO entry had come from the administration office and not from Sok An. The tribunals administration director Sean Visoth, she said, "does not wish to cooperate with them [OSJI] anymore due to the bad faith and bias on their part." On Sunday Sean Visoth declined to speak to a reporter and Ryan, who was traveling, could not be reached for comment.
Several Cambodian staffers at the court—including Co-Prosecutor Chea Leang and Trial Chamber Judge Nil Non—said Sunday they were not aware of the restriction placed on OSJI. Several added that in general, they advocate open lines of communication. Nil Non said that in his experience, "a judge needs all sides of information."
6 comments:
At last, secret connection between ECCC and governemnt officials was discovered even they normally claimed there was no influence from government. If there no influence or connection why ECCC informed Sok An instead of press conference for public. Act spoke by itself.
KHMENG WAT KHNONG SROK
PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ANY FOOLISH COMMENTS IF YOU ARE NOT FULLY DOCUMENTED ON THE ISSUE.
LET ECCC AND THE GOVERNMENT TEAM RESOLVE THE PROBLEM BY THEMSELF. WE ARE ABLE TO NFLUENCE THEM AT ALL! THE ISSUE SEEMS TO BE MUCH MORE COMPLEXN THAN WE MAY THINK FROM OVERSEAS....
SO JUST NO COMMENTS FROM
KHMENG WAT KHNONG SROK
Foreign observers would not think that this issue is complex at all. Local observers would say that prominent ECCC staff are hard-core CPP members and taking orders from Sok An. There is no need for a complex equation, just a common sense.
Helen Jarvis is chepest white trash
in Australia.
She's blind & power corrupted by
Hun Sen & its CPP.
She will do anything to suit Youn's interests.
Indochina of Ho Chi Minh.
Sat youn pourn knong srok khmer! you do think all khmer devserve to shut mouth, close eyes and close ears?? everyone has right to express view on the situation of their country. You are just a fox of Hun Sen who will kill you one day he knows you flatter him with a poisonous trick.
Mr SEAN VISOTH is also one of the corruption government officials
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