Press Release: President of Victims Associatio​n Urges Civil Party Lawyers, Victims Support Section, NGOs to Assist Applicants in Cases 003/004

Founder, President of the Cambodia-based First-registered Victims Association Theary Seng Urges Civil Party Lawyers, the NGOs, the Victims Support Section to Assist Interested Victims to File in Cases 003 and 004

_________________________

PRESS RELEASE

_________________________

PHNOM PENH, 10 May 2011:  The president and founder of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (AKRVC), Ms. Theary C. SENG, calls on the 40-plus civil party lawyers, the co-lead lawyers, the Victims Support Section of the Extraordinary Chambers (ECCC), and the NGOs which facilitated the civil party applicants for Cases 001 and 002, to assist interested victims in applying to Cases 003 and 004.  Time is of the essence.

In light of the information released by Ms. Seng and most recently and concretely by the UN co-prosecutor which is greatly welcome, it should make it easier for interested victims to apply for civil party status, most urgently to Case 003 because of the looming deadline of 18 May 2011 but also to Case 004.  But they need legal assistance.

States Ms. Seng, a Cases 003/004 applicant: “Since the public lodging of my civil party application against Meas Muth and Sou Met and my intention to lodge another application against Im Chaem, Ta Tith and Ta An, I have been receiving many inquiries from many victims in Kandal, Battambang, Canada etc. who are interested in applying to become civil parties in Cases 003 and 004.  However, many expressed concerned for their security and request assistance in completing the application.  I recommended that they approach the local branch of the well-established human rights organizations in their respective provinces.  One person told me that one NGO turned him away because it has closed the facilitation of application process, a reflection of how political interference seeps deeply into the consciousness of human rights workers as well.”

More information is desirable, especially material facts from the co-investigating judges to Case 004, but there are enough for the civil party lawyers to engage their clients from Case 001 and 002 regarding Cases 003 and 004.  The Victims Support Section should assist with translation, as the information released by Ms. Seng has been in English, and many of the civil party lawyers are non-Khmer speaking/writing.

The applicant Ms. Seng continues: “I am deeply engaged in putting together my appeal to the Pre-Trial Chamber and my new application against Im Chaem, Ta An and Ta Tith.  However, I plan simultaneously to put together a sheet of basic relevant facts for interested victims to guide them in their application. I anticipate this will be publicly available within the next few days.”

The silence of the civil party lawyers, especially of the co-lead lawyers, the Victims Support Section, the UN, the donors, and the NGOs working on legacy and victims outreach has been deafening.  Ms. Seng commends the exceptions to all this being civil party lawyers Mr. Sam Sokong and Ms. Lyma Nguyen in their representation of Rob Hamill, and within recent hours in breaking the prolonged silence, civil party lawyers Hong Kimsuon and Silke Studzinsky and UN co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley.  It is better late than never.

Ms. Seng: “We desire justice.  Truth is a pre-condition of justice.  The deceit surrounding Cases 003 and 004 is unacceptable.”

For more information, please contact Ms. Seng at 012.222.552 or theary.seng@gmail.com.

___________________________________________________
The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia—the first association based in Cambodia to be registered with the Ministry of Interior and the first to be recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and independent of any political or religious affiliation—is a network of survivors of the 1975-79 killing fields who are joined in the fellowship of suffering, in the demand for justice, and in the work for a just peace. The members of the Victims Association are from overseas and spread across the provinces and capital of Cambodia, coming together as a result of the public forums conducted by its Founder, and now its president Ms. Theary C. SENG and Victims Outreach Manager Mr. SOK Leang since 2007. They include widows and orphans; former child soldiers and former prisoners; hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; well-known actresses playwrights, authors and journalists; as well as teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers, inter alia. Among the other members of the Victims Association is the Civil Parties of Orphans Class, a special grouping pre-dating the AKRVC founding when introduced officially in the Pre-Trial Chamber hearing of Nuon Chea in Feb. 2008, and since officially recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and a party to the Extraordinary Chambers Case File No. 002 against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

www.akrvictims.org