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| Standing trial beginning Monday are the four highest-ranking surviving Khmer Rouge leaders: Nuon Chea, left, 84, the revolution's chief ideologue; Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 85; his wife, Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, 79; and head of state Khieu Samphan, 79. They face multiple charges that include war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. (AFP / Getty Images / June 25, 2011) |
Four former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide go on trial in Cambodia on Monday before a U.N.-backed tribunal amid charges of political meddling in the investigation of other cases.
June 26, 2011
By Brendan Brady, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)
Reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia— As a U.N.-backed Cambodian tribunal opens Monday to try former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide, critics accuse the Cambodian government of meddling and the United Nations of failing to uphold the court's independence.
Standing trial are the four highest-ranking surviving Khmer Rouge leaders: head of state Khieu Samphan, 79; Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 85; his wife, Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, 79; and the revolution's chief ideologue, Nuon Chea, 84. They face multiple charges that include war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Last July in the first trial of Khmer leaders, former prison commandant Comrade Duch was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The current case, considered one of the most complex and historically significant war crimes trials since Nuremberg, is expected to last longer and be trickier than the first case. The complexities arise in part because fixing responsibility for the crimes is more tenuous given that the defendants ruled through proxies.
International co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley, a Briton, also faces a roster of hard-hitting defense lawyers, including Jacques Verges, a Frenchman dubbed "terror's advocate" for his success in defending charged war criminals.
The controversy surrounding the proceedings focuses on whether charges also should be levied against more former regime members than the initial five. An estimated 1.7 million people died of starvation, overwork, medical neglect and execution during the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge's brutal 1975-79 reign.
Trying more alleged mass murderers is controversial in Cambodia because many prominent figures today have links to the former regime. Those in favoring of widening the investigation — currently two more cases are under consideration involving five suspects — have met multiple roadblocks.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former mid-ranking cadre, has said he would rather have the tribunal fail than see more than two trials. He told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in October that additional cases were "not allowed".
Five international members of the court's investigating branch recently quit to protest what they feel were intentionally scuttled probes into additional suspects.
One of them, author and Khmer Rouge expert Stephen Heder, criticized investigating judges in his resignation letter for shutting down a proposed third case "effectively without investigating it."
Heder described the court's investigations office as a "toxic atmosphere of mutual mistrust" and "professionally dysfunctional."
In the proposed third case, judges conducted only pro forma interviews of witnesses and visits to alleged crimes sites without informing suspects that they might face a trial, said legal advocacy group Open Society Justice Initiative in a report.
"Everything leads to the conclusion that the Case 3 investigation has been a charade," said Clair Duffy, a court monitor with Justice Initiative.
Additional trials could target second-tier Khmer Rouge leaders allegedly responsible for implementing some of the regime's most deadly policies. This could embarrass the prime minister, given that some in his inner political circle held Khmer Rouge posts of that rank, analysts said. Hun Sen has a different explanation: with former cadres distributed across the country, intense judicial scrutiny could spark uprisings and destabilize the country.
U.N. participation in the tribunal was supposed to shelter the court from political meddling and act as a legal model for Cambodia's shaky judiciary, which is marred by poor training, manipulation and corruption.
The U.N. has made repeated statements affirming the importance of judicial independence, although Duffy charged that this amounts to little more than empty words if the international body doesn't defend that principle.
Ban's office said charges of political interference amount to "media speculation."
"My greatest concern is that we maintain the trust of the people," Cayley said.
Brady is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Mark Magnier in Beijing contributed to this report.
2 comments:
To be fair, we need Sihanouk to stand trial who killed 1.7 million Cambodians.
The trial will go on for years. These animals will likely be dead by then. Public stoning is one possible option; though it's barbaric but it's a good way to deal with the barbarians - the khmer rouge.
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