Phnom Penh Monday, 23 May 2011
“We do not accept the Office of Co-Investigating Judges’ interpretation of the law in the order.”
The international prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge tribunal says he will file an appeal this week against an order from court judges that he retract parts of a recent public statement about a controversial upcoming case.
The prosecutor, Andrew Cayley, said Monday the interpretation of court rules by investigating judges, who censured him last week, was unacceptable.
The judges, Siegfried Blunk and You Bunleang, issued a court order last week ordering Cayley to retract portions of a statement he issued earlier this month, in which he called on the judges to renew an investigation into tribunal Case 003.
The judges said in the order Cayley had released confidential information from the cases.
“We will file the appeal to the Pre-Trial Chamber mid this week,” Cayley told VOA Khmer Monday. “We do not accept the Office of Co-Investigating Judges’ interpretation of the law in the order.”
He said a retracting of his statements before a ruling by the Pre-Trial Chamber would be “absolutely meaningless.”
His May 9 public statement followed an announcement from the judges that they had concluded their investigation into Case 003. Cayley said he would request further investigation, including interviews of the suspects and the inspection of several specific locations.
He has 30 days to appeal the May 13 order, but there is no deadline for the Pre-Trial Chamber to decide, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said.
Case 003 and another, Case 004, have become the subjects of controversy at the UN-backed court. Prime Minister Hun Sen and other opponents of the cases have said further indictments risk destabilizing the country’s security, while supporters say the court has a mandate to try as many former Khmer Rouge leaders as possible.
US War Crimes Ambassador Steven Rapp said during a visit in January he expected both sides of the court to cooperate on the two cases.
“We want to make sure that the court is able to conclude its investigation on all matters,” he said in an interview at the time.
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