Radio Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
International judges on Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal have been accused of delaying genocide trials because of a dispute over the participation of foreign counsel.
The trials are being threatened by a row over fees which Cambodia's Bar Association is demanding foreign lawyers pay if they wish to defend former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Bar Association president Ky Tech told reporters the fees of up to $US4,900 a year would be used to offset administrative work done by Cambodians assisting international lawyers.
But international jurists say the fees will discourage foreign lawyers from joining the tribunal and could deprive defendants of their right to proper counsel.
Ky Tech says the Bar is being "intimidated" by foreign judges, who have threatened to boycott next month's plenary session during which internal rules necessary for the trials to go forward are to be approved.
"They have given us an ultimatum. The Bar considers this boycott threat a childish game," he said.
He denied the Bar was being manipulated by the Cambodian government, which has been repeatedly accused of trying to delay the trials.
Chief defence lawyer Rupert Skilbeck has said he is confident the fee row will be resolved and the trials will go forward, and says he is to meet with the Bar to negotiate a solution.
Human rights groups have called for the trials to take place as soon as possible, saying that ageing Khmer Rouge leaders could die before being brought to justice.
Up to two million people died of overwork, starvation and execution under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools.
The trials are being threatened by a row over fees which Cambodia's Bar Association is demanding foreign lawyers pay if they wish to defend former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Bar Association president Ky Tech told reporters the fees of up to $US4,900 a year would be used to offset administrative work done by Cambodians assisting international lawyers.
But international jurists say the fees will discourage foreign lawyers from joining the tribunal and could deprive defendants of their right to proper counsel.
Ky Tech says the Bar is being "intimidated" by foreign judges, who have threatened to boycott next month's plenary session during which internal rules necessary for the trials to go forward are to be approved.
"They have given us an ultimatum. The Bar considers this boycott threat a childish game," he said.
He denied the Bar was being manipulated by the Cambodian government, which has been repeatedly accused of trying to delay the trials.
Chief defence lawyer Rupert Skilbeck has said he is confident the fee row will be resolved and the trials will go forward, and says he is to meet with the Bar to negotiate a solution.
Human rights groups have called for the trials to take place as soon as possible, saying that ageing Khmer Rouge leaders could die before being brought to justice.
Up to two million people died of overwork, starvation and execution under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools.
2 comments:
Hi,
". . . . Cambodia's Bar Association is demanding foreign lawyers pay if they wish to defend former Khmer Rouge leaders."
They are a bunch of jerkwater lawyers. They are not only incompetent and inexperience in the matters of war crime, crime against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, but they are also incompetent on the small matters in their own jurisdiction.
They are specializing in law such as bribery, blackmail, kill to destroy the evidence, beurk sarong, corruption, cock-fighting (Sok An), etc.
2L/PaperChase
This is only the start. The stalling tactics will go on and on; the foreign judges will be tearing their hair out; Hun Sen will be chuckling; and the people of Cambodia have anyway by-and-large stopped caring about any of this nonsense. In the meantime, political activists continue to be murdered.
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