By Pen Bona
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
By mail, the Deputy Director of ECCC/Coordinator UNAKRT was trying to moderate the reach of Peter Foster’s statement.
“From now on, it is necessary to clear up all eventual misunderstanding caused by Mr. Foster’s statement which was reported by The Cambodia Daily newspaper on 29 August,” Michelle Lee said. In a letter dated 06 September, sent to Kong Sam Ol, the minister of the royal palace, Michelle Lee indicated that Peter Foster, the UN spokesman of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, did not have any intention of attacking the honor of His Majesty the King-Father. “Nevertheless, I regret to bring to your knowledge the fact that Mr. Foster, as the UNAKRT (UN Assistance for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal) spokesman, is not authorized to exercise legal duties, and that, consequently, he is not authorized to follow up on the invitation made by His Majesty the King-Father,” Michelle Lee said, while adding that, in fact, only the ECCC judges have the competency to determine who should be heard as witness, and by doing so, they are obliged to respect the applicable procedural rules.
Through a communiqué posted on 30 August 2007, Norodom Sihanouk invited Peter Foster and other UN representatives to come and talk publicly with him on the Khmer Rouge affair on 08 September, at the royal palace. This invitation came at the heel of Peter Foster’s statement quoted by The Cambodia Daily, in which he announced the possibility of a summon of King-Father to appear at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as a witness. King-Father immediately announced his position through his handwritten comments on the margin of Michelle Lee’s letter which was made public. “I have nothing to add to it. Consequently, I will have nothing more to say to these judges,” Sihanouk concluded.
“From now on, it is necessary to clear up all eventual misunderstanding caused by Mr. Foster’s statement which was reported by The Cambodia Daily newspaper on 29 August,” Michelle Lee said. In a letter dated 06 September, sent to Kong Sam Ol, the minister of the royal palace, Michelle Lee indicated that Peter Foster, the UN spokesman of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, did not have any intention of attacking the honor of His Majesty the King-Father. “Nevertheless, I regret to bring to your knowledge the fact that Mr. Foster, as the UNAKRT (UN Assistance for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal) spokesman, is not authorized to exercise legal duties, and that, consequently, he is not authorized to follow up on the invitation made by His Majesty the King-Father,” Michelle Lee said, while adding that, in fact, only the ECCC judges have the competency to determine who should be heard as witness, and by doing so, they are obliged to respect the applicable procedural rules.
Through a communiqué posted on 30 August 2007, Norodom Sihanouk invited Peter Foster and other UN representatives to come and talk publicly with him on the Khmer Rouge affair on 08 September, at the royal palace. This invitation came at the heel of Peter Foster’s statement quoted by The Cambodia Daily, in which he announced the possibility of a summon of King-Father to appear at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as a witness. King-Father immediately announced his position through his handwritten comments on the margin of Michelle Lee’s letter which was made public. “I have nothing to add to it. Consequently, I will have nothing more to say to these judges,” Sihanouk concluded.
6 comments:
You just stupid or crook like Ah Hun Xen, do not know or try to understand the basic of Law!
May hell keep you there to learn about law!
Way to go, and two thumbs up for KR Tribunal team!! At the same time, I feel much sympathy for you guys to have to deal with so many clueless, hard-headed, and autocratic personalities. I hope that your foresights and good sense of judgments will carry the day. Remember, if I may venture a word of reminder, that you are the only hope for all the Khmer Rouge's victims to find closure to their ordeals. In terms of finding justice for those who had perished in the Cambodian killing fields, you carry perhaps the heaviest burden in human history, given the fact that you have to deal with both political sensitivity and rambucntious people such as fomer king Norodom Sihanouk and the like.
(An observer from Washington, DC)
Dear Madam Lee,
Your letter to the Royal palace merely showed the court acceded to the one institution. I beg to differ on the matter since your court is there to find justice for the 1.7MM innocent Cambodians. Let's not allow a few tactics from Hun Sen ruined your credibility, or for that matter the credibility of the UN. It's too big of a price to pay. Your career might be in trouble too. Just warning.
I am not a lawyer, but to retract a statement made by your own spokeperson, you have to do better than that. This is NOT between your court and the Royal Palace of Cambodia, but it reflects the independent institution of a UN tribunal. We have to be cautious since this court will be not the last UN court, so you have to set a fundamental example for longevity of UN jurisdiction. Remember you represent the world in this matter; let's not undermine it.
Soth,
I am respect all comments above me,
That only way that make 33 souls from our close family have rest in peace.
Thank you peaceful & justice lover
Soth (3:31),
Read the statement again. It does not contradict what Foster said at all. In fact it repeats the same thing; "only the ECCC judges have the competency to determine who should be heard as witness". That is the statement Foster made in the first place that started all this. Sounds more like the ECCC are saying 'sorry if you were offended but we stand by our spokesperson'.
Father King forgets who he is now, what power he has now, and also forget to look at the jurisdiction of the ECCC on who should be on trial.
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