Closing Order of Case 002 against Senior KR Leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith

In light of the HISTORIC (!) start of MOST COMPLEX (sic!) trial hearings beginning on   27 June 2011 and again ANOTHER HISTORIC (!) START of this same MOST COMPLEX (sic!) on 21 Nov. 2011 of Case 002 against the surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, KI Media is posting installations of the public document of the Closing Order of Case 002 (or, Indictment). The Closing Order of the Co-Investigating Judges forms the basic document from which all the parties (co-prosecutors, lead co-lawyers for all civil parties, defense lawyers) make their arguments before the Trial Chamber judges (one Cambodian President, 2 Cambodian Judges, 2 UN judges). Up until now, the hearings involving these four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been in the Pre-Trial Chamber over issues of pre-trial detention and jurisdictional issues. Beginning in June November 2011, the Trial Chamber is hearing the substantive (sic!) arguments over the criminal charges   (genocide against Buddhists, genocide against Vietnamese, genocide against Cham Muslims, crimes against humanity at the 200 prisons, mass crimes in countless killing fields, Eastern Zone purges, penal code of 1956, etc.) of only the Phase I Movement in April 1975.

 
 Available in Khmer, English and French. Contact the ECCC for a free copy.  

 

CLOSING ORDER (or, INDICTMENT)

 

of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde

15 September 2010

  PART THREE: LEGAL FINDINGS 

 

XIII. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY 

 

A.  "CHAPEAU" ELEMENTS 

 

B. UNDERLYING OFFENCES CONSTITUTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

 

Imprisonment

1402. The legal elements of the crime against humanity of imprisonment have been established.⁵²⁶⁶ Those facts concern all the security centres included in the judicial investigation: Koh Kyang, Kok Kduoch, Kraing Ta Chan, the North Zone security centre, Phnom Kraol, Au Kanseng, Prey Damrei Srot, S-21, Sang, Wat Kirirum and Wat Tlork. The legal elements of imprisonment have also been established in relation to the Prey Sar worksite, the Tram Kok Cooperatives, and in regard to the treatment of the Cham.

1403.       As regards the actus reus, the personnel of these sites intentionally imposed serious, arbitrary deprivation of liberty on the detainees, in violation of legal guarantees.

1404.       Tens of thousands of people detained in security centres were intentionally and arbitrarily held without any legal basis. As set out in the "Factual Findings - Joint Criminal Enterprise" section, the network of security centres replaced the judicial system in order to facilitate detention based on the presumed dangerousness of individuals, as perceived by the CPK authorities. This was in violation of the fundamental right to liberty and security as recognized under international law. As a result, the prisoners had no procedural safeguards between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979 enabling them to be informed of the cause of their arrest or to challenge their detention or punishment.

1405. As regards the cooperatives and worksites, the infringements of freedom were such that they amounted to imprisonment. At the Prey Sar worksite, the detainees were deprived of their liberty and were closely monitored both at work and at night, in particular the so-called "bad elements", particularly as they were shackled at night. In the Tram Kok Cooperatives, the commune militiamen arrested, held and interrogated people in a detention centre which was operated by the commune militia.

1406.       As regards the mens rea, the perpetrators acted with the intent to arbitrarily deprive the prisoners of their freedom.

1407.       These instances of imprisonment, mostly by CPK cadres, personnel, or the security and armed forces, were an integral part of the means used to achieve the elimination of "enemies" as well as the Vietnamese and the Cham. They were part of the attack against the civilian population, and this was known to the perpetrators and the Charged Persons. Their perpetration throughout the country, as reported by many witnesses and civil parties on situations falling outside the crime scenes included in the judicial investigation, testifies to their widespread nature and clearly indicates that they were decided upon and coordinated by the CPK leaders within the framework of the common purpose.