AFP
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he will appoint a replacement for a Swiss judge who quit Cambodia's Khmer Rouge war crimes court amid a row with Phnom Penh about whether to pursue more suspects.
Laurent Kasper-Ansermet rocked the UN-backed tribunal in March when he became the second international judge in six months to resign over difficulties investigating two new cases strongly opposed by the Cambodian government.
Ban believes that it is "essential" that those cases "be brought back onto a positive course", spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement emailed to AFP late on Friday.
"The secretary general has decided, in this regard, to initiate a process for the selection of a new international co-investigating judge, and a new reserve international co-investigating judge."
Following the Swiss's shock resignation on March 19, observers said the UN would have to choose between pursuing the controversial cases with a new judge or pulling out of the troubled and perpetually cash-strapped court altogether.
Ban urged the Cambodian government to "extend full cooperation to the new judges", Nesirky added.
Reserve judge Kasper-Ansermet was the UN choice's to replace a German judge who quit in October citing government interference at the court, but Phnom Penh refused to recognise Kasper-Ansermet's appointment.
The Swiss said he was then "blocked" at every turn by his Cambodian counterpart in his efforts to probe the potential cases, which involve five mid-level Khmer Rouge members accused of mass killings and forced labour under the regime's 1975-1979 reign.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former cadre before he defected, has long opposed going after more suspects, even telling Ban in 2010 that prosecutions beyond the current second trial were "not allowed".
The tribunal, set up to find justice for the deaths of up to two million people under the hardline communist Khmer Rouge, has so far completed just one case, sentencing a former prison chief to life in jail for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people.
7 comments:
I really feel sorry for UN who has been in between this Hanoi and US ECCC in Cambodia.
Hope that Mr. Ban Ki-Moon will not choose the wrong International Judge to replace the International Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet.
The UN is easily one of the most dysfuntional organizations in the world. It is with no surprise that the ECCC is equally as (or more) dysfunctional given the record of all who created their system and priorities. Get ready for more of the same political interference at the expense of the Khmer Rouge victims.
The UN just cannot be better than her members... it is that easy. Look around, what do you see?
Failed states like Cambodia... without democrazy, without fair trials, without Human Rights.
It's not about a so-called UN, but it's about individials. It's easy. If you don't want to follow the path of Blunk of Germany and Laurent of Swiss, don't take the job! Then you will see how Cambodia deal with this court!
The UN is weak when it comes to deal with these tyrants and dictators. No matter how many judges the UN assign to this court, it will get the same result... Honorable judges will Resign one after another if they are obstructed by the government. Only the corrupted one will able to stay on.
I am a victim of the Khmer Rouge, but now losing hope of justice with this hybrid court. And this is what the Hanoi wants to see, because wasted times and monies will soon desolved this useless court and will force it to shut down. Then, all the main killers are walk free.
US Khmer
1:31 AM ( US Khmer ),
I agree with you not 100% but 1000% as you said:
Quote:
The UN is weak when it comes to deal with these tyrants and dictators. No matter how many judges the UN assign to this court, it will get the same result...
My comment:
Because it is all about Indochina Federation .
Khmer Australia.
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