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| Mr Kasper-Ansermet said he had been blocked in efforts to investigate two further suspected cases. |
19 March 2012
BBC News
A second judge has resigned from the troubled UN-backed international war crimes tribunal in Cambodia.
Swiss Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet said he was leaving because his Cambodian counterpart, You Bunleng, had thwarted attempts to investigate former members of the 1970s regime.
Mr Kasper-Ansermet said the dispute had left him unable to work properly.
In October last year, another judge, German Siegfried Blunk, resigned for similar reasons.
The row relates to attempts to bring two potential new cases - known as cases 003 and 004 - to the tribunal.
In a statement released by the tribunal, Mr Kasper-Ansermet said: "You Bunleng's active opposition to investigations into cases 003 and 004 has led to a dysfunctional situation."
He added that he "considers that the present circumstances no longer allow him to properly and freely perform his duties".
'Interference'
At the time of his resignation, Mr Blunk, who was replaced by Mr Kasper-Ansermet, accused the Cambodian authorities of political interference in the two cases.
Critics accuse the government of being reluctant to have further figures of Khmer Rouge regime investigated.
The court was jointly created by the UN and the Cambodian government, and includes both Cambodian and international judges.
It successfully concluded its first case in February, sentencing the chief jailer of the Khmer Rouge, Comrade Duch, to life imprisonment for his role in running a notorious prison where thousands of inmates were killed.
The tribunal is currently hearing the case of the three most senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, who are accused of taking part in mass killings in the 1970s.
Testifying against the three men on Monday, Comrade Duch, born as Kaing Guek Eav, told the court that he had been instructed to torture inmates by putting plastic bags over their heads and watching them suffocate.
Asked who had told him to do so, he said it had been ordered by his supervisors and that it was party policy and sanctioned by official documents.
The three accused - Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary - have pleaded not guilty to charges that include crimes against humanity, genocide and torture
Up to two million Cambodians are thought to have died - from starvation, overwork or execution - during the four years of Khmer Rouge rule.
4 comments:
Sihanouk
Dear Cambodian Friends.
Today is clearly, no one can change it.It is a second time that judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet resigned after judge Blunk resignation. It was caused by the Cambodian government interference(Ratha Phibal Louk Dai Chaul Ph:tai
Khnong).
As I stated in Khmerization Blog on
Saturday, December 03, 2011 in last paragraph that Court was a farce court and set up by the VN/HS.However, I'd like to suggest the UN who backed that ECCC to reexamine and decide this interfrentmatter, should the UN continues, closes or moves to another country, such as Holland (Netherlands).
This is my personal opinion.
Thanks
CPP needs more money so they can find another judge.
Bravo CPP!! $150 millions not enough? $1 billions and another 50 years should be enough to bring justice to the table.
Bravo CPP!!
Vietnam's bad intention toward Cambodia will be unmasked by the international communities.
We need to take this Cambodia’s land thief, Vietnam, to the international court of justice; otherwise Vietnam will keep creating turmoil in Cambodia.
After 1989, did Vietnam truly withdraw all of its troops back to Vietnam?
Did Vietnam comply with the 1991 Paris peace accord?
Millions of illegal and legal Vietnamese have been residing inside Cambodia after Vietnam’s invasion in January 1979, causing extreme concerns amongst Khmer people about the prospect that Cambodia would be the second Kampuchea Krom (the current southern part of Vietnam).
How much Khmer natural resource has Vietnam destroyed after its invasion in January 1979?
The killings during the Pol Pot's era were committed by the Khmer rouge, the Khmer Vietminh, etc. One tactical strategy that Vietnam has used effectively during the Khmer Rouge regime was to create “suspicion” between Khmers. So, the killings were exacerbated dramatically because of that suspicion generated by Vietnam.
Notice that the Khmer Vietminh were created and brainwashed by Vietnam to make Khmers fight with Khmers, to make Khmers kill each others. Vietnam’s ulterior ultimate goal is to make Khmer people vanish from this world like Vietnam did to Champa. No wonder, they have always seen Khmers fight with Khmers.
How about the K5 project, which killed hundreds of thousands of Khmer people in the 80's? This K5 scheme was totally orchestrated by Vietnam to make Khmer people disappear so that Vietnam could easily absorb Cambodia.
Vietnam must pay for this enormous K5 project crime. We need to take Vietnam to the international court about this K5 issue regarding Vietnam’s catastrophic action in Cambodia. Vietnam’s current dominance in Cambodia also contributes to the present majority Khmer people’s misery.
Vietnam has done horrible things to Khmer people, but we have never done anything to make Vietnam pay for it. That is why Vietnam kept doing bad things to Cambodian people and currently implementing its colonization on Cambodia.
Finally, the UN must have some clues why the puppet government in Phnom Penh has been so apprehensive about the cases 003, 004, etc…The Hun Sen’s government and Vietnam have played a major role in the killings during the Pol Pot’s era.
If they are clean, why they are so afraid of the cases 003, 004,..?
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