Canadian under fire for quitting Cambodian tribunal

Prosecutor of Khmer Rouge picked a bad time to leave controversial court, critics say

Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009
Mark MacKinnon
Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada)
Beijing

The Canadian prosecutor who resigned this week from the tribunal charged with bringing members of Cambodia's vicious Khmer Rouge regime to justice dismissed speculation that he is quitting over how the tribunal is being run, and said he is stepping down purely for personal reasons.

“It's a completely personal issue,” Robert Petit said in an interview. “It just so happens that events in Canada made it so I had to return.”

But Mr. Petit, who had become the stern face of the international effort to bring the perpetrators of the killing fields to justice, was nonetheless hit by a storm of criticism both inside and outside Cambodia for leaving at such a sensitive juncture. The tribunal, which is seeking to prosecute former Khmer Rouge leaders for their role in the deaths of 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979, is behind schedule, over budget and plagued by infighting between its international and Cambodian staff.

“It is disturbing to hear that the international co-prosecutor is leaving in the midst of the initial trial of the [tribunal], at a time when it is critical for the office to establish its leadership role in the trial and the court,” said Heather Ryan of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Elena Lesley, who is covering the tribunal for the Phnom Penh Post, wrote on her blog that “whatever Petit's reasons for resigning, his timing couldn't be worse.”

In a telephone interview, Mr. Petit would not discuss the nature of the personal issue that caused him to step down, but said he would not have otherwise resigned from what he called “the greatest professional opportunity I've ever had.”

He dismissed talk that his absence would hamper the tribunal, saying the case – and the number of staff involved – is too big for it to depend too heavily on the chief prosecutor.

Mr. Petit, who previously served on international genocide tribunals in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, nonetheless expressed concern over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of the tribunal, saying there is too much at stake in Cambodia for the court to fail.

“The court is still underfunded and under-resourced for the tasks that it is supposed to accomplish,” he said. “Obviously, allegations such as the corruption and administration must be addressed and put to rest finally.”

An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died from execution, torture, overwork or manmade famine during a bloody Khmer Rouge campaign to create a classless, agrarian society. For almost three decades afterward, many of the perpetrators of that genocide were allowed to live peaceful lives among the population they once terrorized. Many died without ever being called to account.

That changed in 2006 with the formation of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, a hybrid court made up of five Cambodian and four international judges. Earlier this year, proceedings began against the first defendant, 66-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, who allegedly oversaw the torture and execution of 15,000 people while running the Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh.

But the tribunal has been dogged since its formation by accusations of corruption and mismanagement, as well as a split between the international staff – led by Mr. Petit – and their Cambodian colleagues. The internationals wanted to expand the tribunal's reach in order to indict more people as evidence came to light, while the top Cambodian prosecutor has argued to focus on only the five Khmer Rouge members currently behind bars.

Mr. Petit, who will step down on Sept. 1 and return to a job at the Department of Justice in Ottawa, said he would use his remaining time in Cambodia to ensure that as many suspected war criminals as possible are brought before the tribunal. He said doing so is key to Cambodia understanding its horrific past and getting beyond it.

“There hasn't been any kind of accountability yet for what happened 30 years ago. Hopefully, this is only the beginning of a greater accountability process that will help people understand what happened.”