Peter Foster: Everything written in the story about ECCC by FPM online connected to my name was a complete fiction

KI-Media Note: On 22 June 2011, KI-Media translated an article in Khmer  published by the Free Press Magazine Online. Following the translation of that article, Peter Foster, who was quoted in the article, reacted by stating that the published story was a "complete fiction." In view of Peter Foster's reaction, we are publishing below the reactions by Peter Foster, Pech Bandol of the FPM and Lem Piseth, the FPM editor. We would like to apologize to Peter Foster if mistakes were made in our translation of the FPM article from Khmer to English. Our apologies go to the Free Press Magazine also.

សុក្រ 24 មិថុនា 2011 2:51 PM

Source: http://www.fpmonline.net/archives/7409

Peter W. Foster, former UNAKRT Pubilc Affairs Officer at Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), reacts to a news story which is written by Pich Bandol of The Free Press Magazine online and published on 22 June titled ‘Political pressure at the KRT pushes UN legal officials to walk out.’

Peter Foster mentioned a day after the publication that everything written in the story connected to his name was a complete fiction.

The article which referred to Foster’s comment in 2008 before he ended his contract with ECCC was written that his resignation was because of his unsatisfactory with the KR tribunal.

In his email sent to The Free Press Magazine yesterday, Peter Foster wrote, ‘I did not resign from UNAKRT due to any unhappiness or concern with my role or the work of the court. My contract came up and I didn’t renew primarily due to family obligations in 2008.’

‘I do not know Pech Bandol. I have never spoken to him about the current situation in the ECCC, and to the best of my knowledge, I have never spoken to him at all,’ wrote Peter Foster by adding that, ‘I have never at any time made the comments which have been attributed to me in this story.’

Foster stressed in his writing, ‘I have not been in Cambodia or spoken to any Cambodian reporters for over 3 years. I have no information about the motives of those court staff reported to have resigned.’

He also denied he has never been a Legal Affairs Officer for the UN, and that he has never failed in summoning Ex-King Norodom Sihanouk or other Cambodia top figures involved with the killing of 1.7 million people during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979.

‘The King Father was not ‘unsuccessfully summoned’ by me or anyone else during my time at the court,’ wrote Foster.

In the same email, Foster referred to the article written by Pich Bandol of The Free Press Magazine online, and translated by KI Media with the high-lighted title in red colour, Chea Leang, You Bunleng and Siegfried are NOT seeking justice for the KR victims: Peter Foster.

Sek Rady (Aka Pich Bandol), FPM online field editor, acknowledges that he used the wrong position of Peter Foster at ECCC as legal affair officer instead of his real position as public affairs officer at the court.

Rady told the he did not interview Peter Foster at the time he wrote the article, but he cited Peter’s comment which was publicly known by the Cambodian press after the time Foster left the court in 2008.

However, Sek Rady denies he has written about Peter’s comment on Chea Leang, You Bunleng and Siegfried.

‘I did not write that Chea Leang, You Bunleng and Siegfried are NOT seeking justice for the KR victims as Peter Foster’s comment. It was mistranslated,’ said Sek Rady, adding that, ‘I referred to the statement by Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) which based in the US, and I did not mentioned the names of the co-investigating judges You Bunleng and Siegfried.’

Rady mentioned that he actually referred to the statement issued by the US-based organization, not Peter Foster’s, which follows up the KRT’s action that, ‘Chea Leang, the Cambodian co-prosecutor and the Cambodian and International Co-Investigating judges, are following the Cambodian government’s wish rather than seeking justice for the victims of the KR regime.’

The Free Press Magazine online published the story titled on 22 June, ‘Political pressure at the KRT pushes UN legal officials to walk out.’

The online magazine writes UN legal officials have decided to walk out one after another after political pressure was exerted on the KR Tribunal (KRT) – an institution which should have been independent and used Peter Foster as one of the sources to back up the story.

‘Peter Foster, the former UN legal affairs official – who was formerly the KRT spokesman involved in the unsuccessful summon of Norodom Sihanouk for questioning for his involvement with the KR regime – resigned amid surprise on the issue he raised: It is better off resigning than living in shame. Peter Foster indicated that the UN-supported KRT will face disgrace in Cambodia in the future,’ wrote Pich Bandol of The Free Press Magazine.

This publication made a quick reaction by Peter Foster.

Lem Piseth, FPM online’s publisher and editor-in-chief who lives in Norway, apologizes to Peter Foster for his carelessness of reviewing the article before publication.

‘I would like to express my apology to Peter Foster, and The Free Press Magazine would publish an update story with Foster’s reaction today to pay back to Foster for our big mistake.’

Peter acknowledges that there are some more things to be improved at his online newspaper in relation to professionalism.

‘I think my staff needed to be trained,’ said Lem Piseth on the phone interview.

Peter Foster is the Communications Manager at Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) in Bangkok, Thailand. He was former Chief of Public Information at Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), UNAKRT Pubilc Affairs Officer at Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and Political Affairs Officer at MINURSO.

Peter W. Foster left the Khmer Rouge tribunal due to his ended contract with the international court and not renewing it due to his family condition in 2008, according to his comment to FPM online on 23 June.