Tribunal Prosecutors Won’t Summon Authors of Documents

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, holds some paper documents on the Khmer Rouge regime from Lund University, Sweden at his office of the capital Phnom Penh. (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“The position of the office of the co-prosecutors is that summoning the authors is not necessary.”

Tribunal prosecutors said Tuesday they did not see a need to summon authors of documents on the Khmer Rouge, as the UN-backed court continued with hearings to determine who will testify in the trial of three jailed regime leaders.

This comes a day after defense attorneys say they want to summon the head of a leading genocide research organization before the court.

“The position of the office of the co-prosecutors is that summoning the authors is not necessary,” deputy prosecutors William Smit and Chan Dara Reaksmey told the court.

This would help expediency of the trial of former regime leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary, who face charges of atrocity crimes, they said.

However, Ieng Sary’s defense attorney, Michiel Kanavas, said the credibility of documentation used by the courts are at stake.

Court officials say researcher Chhang Youk, head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, will be summoned to the court Jan. 23, though he may be allowed to send a subordinate in his stead.