Original report from Phnom Penh
International diplomats remained optimistic Wednesday after the cancellation of a meeting later this month by UN judges of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, while a coalition of rights agencies blamed the Cambodian Bar Association for threatening the trials.
Observers say there is little political will on the side of the Cambodian government to implement a tribunal, which is facing a deepening crisis.
Twenty-three organizations lambasted the Cambodian Bar Association for refusing to budge on a position requiring excessive fees for foreign lawyer participation in a Khmer Rouge tribunal, which the UN-appointed judges say waters down the trials' legitimacy.
With continued delays, observers say, the tribunal will collapse under its own three-year time limit.
Bar association officials did not answer their phones Wednesday.
UN-appointed judges issued a statement Tuesday canceling a planning session set for April 30, claiming they were unwilling to meet their Cambodian counterparts before the bar association relinquished its position on fees.
The meeting was meant to shore up differences on internal rules necessary to the running of a tribunal. No former leader has yet been indicted by the year-old tribunal, and many fear the top men of a regime that killed nearly 2 million Cambodians may die before facing justice.
US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said the Americans remained "cautiously optimistic" that judges would be able to find a way to move the tribunal forward.
"We think that there is still a window of opportunity remaining to resolve the issue and to move forward with the trial," he said.
"We continue to hope that each party will be at the same level [in] considering the court's essence as important," French Embassy spokeswoman Fabyene Mansecal said.
Observers say there is little political will on the side of the Cambodian government to implement a tribunal, which is facing a deepening crisis.
Twenty-three organizations lambasted the Cambodian Bar Association for refusing to budge on a position requiring excessive fees for foreign lawyer participation in a Khmer Rouge tribunal, which the UN-appointed judges say waters down the trials' legitimacy.
With continued delays, observers say, the tribunal will collapse under its own three-year time limit.
Bar association officials did not answer their phones Wednesday.
UN-appointed judges issued a statement Tuesday canceling a planning session set for April 30, claiming they were unwilling to meet their Cambodian counterparts before the bar association relinquished its position on fees.
The meeting was meant to shore up differences on internal rules necessary to the running of a tribunal. No former leader has yet been indicted by the year-old tribunal, and many fear the top men of a regime that killed nearly 2 million Cambodians may die before facing justice.
US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said the Americans remained "cautiously optimistic" that judges would be able to find a way to move the tribunal forward.
"We think that there is still a window of opportunity remaining to resolve the issue and to move forward with the trial," he said.
"We continue to hope that each party will be at the same level [in] considering the court's essence as important," French Embassy spokeswoman Fabyene Mansecal said.
7 comments:
you can blast the khmer bar association led by ah KY TECH all you want ,but i don't think he'll be budge. The big stick right on his damn head might do. CPP put him there to create HEADACH that all....
Oh stop being Mr. Stooge, $5,000
aint much for your rich hypocrites.
Yeah! Cus that is what this trial is really about. Soaking rich forgieners for every penny they have so Ky Tech can by a new villa. YOu didn't really think Cambodia would allow actual international standard to be met did you?
Cambodian 'justice' is a joke. And now the whole world can see it.
Ky Tech is basically holding the whole court hostage and demanding a personal ransom to let it continue. The judges would be fools to let him to get away with it.
If they pay him his ransom the court will loose what little credibility it has left.
It is the first real test to see if this will be a real court or a show trial.
Wrong 7:32, Cambodia Justice is
true Justice, not fake like yours.
1:11, is that you Ky Tech?
I wish.
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