Luke Hunt
World Politics Review
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A failure by donors to pay up on financial pledges has pushed the Khmer Rouge tribunal perilously close to the brink of bankruptcy and overshadowed a sensational start to the historic trial of Pol Pot's surviving lieutenants.
Court spokeswoman Helen Jarvis initially told World Politics Review that the tribunal could not make March payroll. This was followed by a hastily arranged press conference where international judges warned earlier this week that corruption remained a key obstacle.
"The problems mentioned concerning funding can be resolved once the international community is confident of a corruption-free environment in which to hold the trials," trial chamber Judge Silvia Cartwright said.
According to a revised budget forecast, the entire court will need an additional $44.1 million -- on top of the original $56.3 million already budgeted -- if it is to last just until the end of 2009.
Funding for the tribunal is shared by Cambodia and the United Nations. The Cambodian side is experiencing a massive shortfall, amid allegations of corruption that have prompted some donors to stop short of delivering the promised assistance.
"It's extremely serious," Jarvis said. "February payroll has been paid but we don't have enough to pay the March payroll. So it's certainly a serious matter. However, we've long believed this court is not going to close down because of a lack of money."
The United States, Japan, the European Union and Australia are among the biggest contributors the tribunal, which is expected to last at least two years. But diplomatic sources say those countries will also be careful in handing over money for the trial after witnessing cost blowouts at other war crimes tribunals -- especially in Rwanda.
The U.N. international court for crimes committed in Rwanda during the 1994 massacres has made landmark decisions, particularly by establishing that systematic rape could be considered genocide.
However, it has also been sharply rebuked as inefficient, costing more than $1 billion for about 35 cases.
Whether such groundbreaking legal precedents will emerge from the trial of alleged genocide in Cambodia remains to be seen. The courts are seeking justice for the 1.7 million people who died here between April 1975 and January 1979.
Two weeks into the proceedings, the tribunal has been marked by compelling testimony, threats and infighting among the ultra-Maoists. The proceedings have stunned the public and sent historians scurrying for their textbooks.
Ieng Thirith, the former first lady of the Khmer Rouge, made the startling allegation that Nuon Chea (a.k.a. Brother No. 2) and Kang Guek Eav, the former head of the S21 detention center, were responsible for the deaths of thousands.
"Nuon Chea sent the orders and Kaing Guek Eav carried them out," the 76-year-old told a bench of five international judges. "I had nothing to do with Nuon Chea but I knew what he had done and I knew that he had killed people."
This was in stark contrast to her long-held claim that any alleged atrocities that occurred under Khmer Rouge rule were exaggerated, and that any killings were committed by the invading Vietnamese troops who ousted Pol Pot.
More than 16,000 people passed through S21, where they were tortured before being sent to the Killing Fields on the outskirts of town and bludgeoned to death.
Appearing more like a grandmother than the matriarch of a genocide, she pleaded before the court, "I have never been a murderer." She then cursed prosecutors, warning they would go to hell if they continued to press charges against her.
Her blistering outbursts from behind the bullet-proof glass that separates the court from the gallery were the first public signs of a much-talked-about split within the ranks.
Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, has already indicated he will plead no contest to charges related to torture and homicide, raising the prospect of him testifying against his former chiefs.
Thirith's lawyer, Phat Pouv Seang, could do little as the former social affairs minister incriminated her former colleagues and herself. He noted his client had not seen her doctor since last July.
Son Arun, a co-lawyer for Nuon Chea, said her outburst could be due to deteriorating health, adding: "She is always like that, angry all the time, mainly at Nuon Chea."
Thirith's husband Ieng Sary has refused to appear before the court, saying he was ill. Khieu Samphan's pre-trial hearing was delayed when his famed French lawyer, Jacques Verges, failed to turn up on time.
Luke Hunt is a Hong Kong-based correspondent and a World Politics Review contributing editor.
Court spokeswoman Helen Jarvis initially told World Politics Review that the tribunal could not make March payroll. This was followed by a hastily arranged press conference where international judges warned earlier this week that corruption remained a key obstacle.
"The problems mentioned concerning funding can be resolved once the international community is confident of a corruption-free environment in which to hold the trials," trial chamber Judge Silvia Cartwright said.
According to a revised budget forecast, the entire court will need an additional $44.1 million -- on top of the original $56.3 million already budgeted -- if it is to last just until the end of 2009.
Funding for the tribunal is shared by Cambodia and the United Nations. The Cambodian side is experiencing a massive shortfall, amid allegations of corruption that have prompted some donors to stop short of delivering the promised assistance.
"It's extremely serious," Jarvis said. "February payroll has been paid but we don't have enough to pay the March payroll. So it's certainly a serious matter. However, we've long believed this court is not going to close down because of a lack of money."
The United States, Japan, the European Union and Australia are among the biggest contributors the tribunal, which is expected to last at least two years. But diplomatic sources say those countries will also be careful in handing over money for the trial after witnessing cost blowouts at other war crimes tribunals -- especially in Rwanda.
The U.N. international court for crimes committed in Rwanda during the 1994 massacres has made landmark decisions, particularly by establishing that systematic rape could be considered genocide.
However, it has also been sharply rebuked as inefficient, costing more than $1 billion for about 35 cases.
Whether such groundbreaking legal precedents will emerge from the trial of alleged genocide in Cambodia remains to be seen. The courts are seeking justice for the 1.7 million people who died here between April 1975 and January 1979.
Two weeks into the proceedings, the tribunal has been marked by compelling testimony, threats and infighting among the ultra-Maoists. The proceedings have stunned the public and sent historians scurrying for their textbooks.
Ieng Thirith, the former first lady of the Khmer Rouge, made the startling allegation that Nuon Chea (a.k.a. Brother No. 2) and Kang Guek Eav, the former head of the S21 detention center, were responsible for the deaths of thousands.
"Nuon Chea sent the orders and Kaing Guek Eav carried them out," the 76-year-old told a bench of five international judges. "I had nothing to do with Nuon Chea but I knew what he had done and I knew that he had killed people."
This was in stark contrast to her long-held claim that any alleged atrocities that occurred under Khmer Rouge rule were exaggerated, and that any killings were committed by the invading Vietnamese troops who ousted Pol Pot.
More than 16,000 people passed through S21, where they were tortured before being sent to the Killing Fields on the outskirts of town and bludgeoned to death.
Appearing more like a grandmother than the matriarch of a genocide, she pleaded before the court, "I have never been a murderer." She then cursed prosecutors, warning they would go to hell if they continued to press charges against her.
Her blistering outbursts from behind the bullet-proof glass that separates the court from the gallery were the first public signs of a much-talked-about split within the ranks.
Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, has already indicated he will plead no contest to charges related to torture and homicide, raising the prospect of him testifying against his former chiefs.
Thirith's lawyer, Phat Pouv Seang, could do little as the former social affairs minister incriminated her former colleagues and herself. He noted his client had not seen her doctor since last July.
Son Arun, a co-lawyer for Nuon Chea, said her outburst could be due to deteriorating health, adding: "She is always like that, angry all the time, mainly at Nuon Chea."
Thirith's husband Ieng Sary has refused to appear before the court, saying he was ill. Khieu Samphan's pre-trial hearing was delayed when his famed French lawyer, Jacques Verges, failed to turn up on time.
Luke Hunt is a Hong Kong-based correspondent and a World Politics Review contributing editor.
3 comments:
it must be some one behind .excute about the lack of fund to work with khmer rouge trail .they are goverment and ruling the systems and power on crisis.
Dog eat meet and let bone on the showcase.
I appeal to all donors not to give a dime to this monkey tribunal. It is a waste of money and it will not produce any justice.
Khmer Republican
Of course you would, 8:40. Who in their right mind would want their relatives to be prosecuted?
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