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| Nuon Chea, former deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, looks on during a joint hearing with other top Khmer Rouge leaders, Khieu Samphan, former head of state, and Ieng Thirith, former social affairs minister, at the court hall of the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, January 31, 2011. (Photo: AP) |
Phnom Penh January 31, 2011
In Cambodia, defense lawyers for three former Khmer Rouge leaders - set to stand trial later this year - called on the international war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh to release them.
Monday marked the first time that the three former Khmer Rouge leaders have appeared together at the international war crimes tribunal.
Their lawyers asked the court to release them ahead of their trial, which is expected to start later this year.
They told the court their elderly clients had been in pre-trial detention for longer than the tribunal’s rules permitted.
The three accused in court were Nuon Chea, the movement’s chief ideologue who was known as Brother Number Two; Khieu Samphan, who was the movement’s head of state; and Ieng Thirith, the former social affairs minister.
The fourth defendant, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, did not appeal the tribunal’s recent ruling that all four must remain in custody ahead of their trial.
International prosecutor Andrew Cayley said Monday that Nuon Chea’s request for release ran counter to international jurisprudence.
He said among other things, Nuon Chea should remain in custody because he had shown himself capable of intimidating those below him in the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.
At least one of those people is scheduled to testify against Nuon Chea, and Cayley said other witnesses were also fearful of testifying. "Your honors, given the accused’s position within Democratic Kampuchea, he could put pressure on witnesses. Especially those under his authority, and indeed there has been some evidence of that already," Cayley stated.
Prosecutors also warned that the defendants had access to the names of witnesses.
The court is expected to rule on the request for release within 30 days.
Earlier this month the four were charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes under Cambodian law. They deny the charges.
As many as 2.2 million people died under the Khmer Rouge movement’s rule of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
The movement’s leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.
Last year the tribunal sentenced the movement’s former security chief, Comrade Duch, to 30 years. Both the prosecution and Duch’s lawyers have appealed the verdict, which will be heard in late March.
5 comments:
While acknowledging the mass atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime, we should never forget the level of atrocities committed during the US secretive bombing of Cambodia from 1968-1973. A declassified telephone discussion between Henry Kissinger and General Alexander Haig, Nixon's deputy assistant for national security affairs, recorded that Nixon had ordered a “massive bombing campaign in Cambodia [to use] anything that flys [sic] on anything that moves”.
The map of US bombing targets released by Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program shows that more than half of the country was affected by the indiscriminate bombings. Professor Ben Kierman, director of the program, puts the casualties figure from the bombing at 150,000 deaths, while Edward Herman, a professor of Wharton School, and Noam Chomsky put the toll at 600,000 using figures provided by a Finnish Commission of Inquiry.
Based on this, we can never naively claim that US bombing led to the mass executions by the Khmer Rouge or refuted the regime's mass atrocities. But, to certain extent, the blanket bombing, which directly led to the destruction of livestock and agricultural land, could have definitely played a role in the mass starvation.
From new data released during the Clinton administration, Taylor Owen, a doctoral student at Oxford University, and Professor Kierman noted that 2,756,941 tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia.
To put the figure into perspective, just over 2 million tons of bombs were dropped by the allies during all of World War II. The bombs dropped in Cambodia represented about 184 Hiroshima atomic bombs combined, making Cambodia the most bombed nation in the world. Based on the new data, Professor Kierman also stressed that the casualties might be much higher than his earlier predicted 150,000.
And this dog, Noun Chea should be tied to a post, given only 2 drops of of water a day.
12:52, what about Khmer civilians and Lon Nol' s soldiers who were killed Viet Cong armies?
His time is coming, too!
Dear Dr. Hun Sen and Ten Thousands stars Dr. Hun Manet,
Why do you and your relatives give Kos Trol, sea and lands to Vietnam? Why? and Why?
Why do you and all of your relatives involve a lot of murder cases in Cambodia? Why? Why?
Why do you murder Cambodian K5, 1997 events and so on and so on with lost count? Why?
If you are so good why do you and your families murder Cambodians? Why? And Why?
If you are so good, why do above 90% Cambodians are so poor but you and your relatives are billionaires and millionaires? Why? Why?
Why do you try to kill people from telling the true? Why? Why?
What is the difference from Khmer Rough and you, Sir?
If you are so good why do you block KI from Cambodians?
If you are so good, why do you steal all Cambodian life such as well being, health, cut down Cambodians life expectancy as well? But you and your small group are eat well, sleep well, exercise well, have oversea doctors and best medical treatment from high class private doctors from oversea. Most Cambodians that have no money, your healthcare system left Cambodians patients to die in front of your hospital. Why? Why?
If you are so good why more than 6 millions Vietnamese are living permanently in Cambodia, right now? Why, Dr. Hen Sen? And Why
Everywhere, I walk in Cambodia I see Vietnamese speak Vietnamese every where, why? Why?
Don't you and your families scare of hell for eternity?
When you die can you bring all of your power and money with you?
Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Big ass lady and his beloved Dr. Hun Manet Please don't put us in jail or kill us for this! We want to live like you and your families do!
Khmers victim of 1997 and K5
PS
If Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Hun Manet remove the tablet it is show they are extremely coward and his star are just joy stars given by his daddy not by patriotism. Dr. Hun Manet is very coward as his daddy they only aim to kill innocent Cambodians that all. Dr. Hun SEn and Dr. ten stars Hun Manet are very great at bullying Cambodians and killing Cambodians but cowardly toward Thai and Viet.
CPP are not just corrupted, CPP are extremely corrupt. They are even sell the country such as Kos Trol, Seas, lands, Cambodian people, Cambodian health and well being, all resources in the Cambodia…with lost count. You name it!
Seriously where is the win win policy of Dr. Hun Sen represent? The country is getting smaller and smaller and shame by Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Hun Manet and his families, his relatives and friends.
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