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

 II.  LEGAL FINDINGS ON MODES OF RESPONSIBILITY

CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE

Findings of Responsibility under the Joint Criminal Enterprise

1514.       The common purpose of the CPK leaders was to implement rapid socialist revolution by in Cambodia through a "great leap forward" and to defend the Party against internal and external enemies, by whatever means necessary. The purpose itself was not entirely criminal in nature but its implementation resulted in and/or involved the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ECCC.⁵²⁹¹

1515.       To achieve this common purpose, the CPK leaders designed and implemented five policies. Their implementation resulted in and/or involved the commission of the following crimes which were committed by members and non-members of the JCE:⁵²⁹²

(i)                 Repeated movements of the population from towns and cities to rural areas;

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under Articles 5, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  murder

(b)  persecution on political grounds

(c)   other inhumane acts through "attacks against human dignity" and forced transfer

(ii)               Establishment and operation of cooperatives and worksites;

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under Articles 5, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  murder

(b)  extermination

(c)  enslavement

(d)  imprisonment

(e)  torture

(f) persecution on political grounds

(g)  persecution on racial grounds

(h)  persecution on religious grounds

(i)  other inhumane acts through "attacks against human dignity" and enforced disappearances

(iii)           Reeducation of "bad elements" and "enemies", both inside and outside the Party ranks;

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under Articles 5, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  murder

(b)  extermination

(c)  enslavement

(d)  imprisonment

(e)  torture

(f)  persecution on political grounds

(g)  persecution on racial grounds

(h)  persecution on religious grounds

(i)     other inhumane acts through "attacks against human dignity" and enforced disappearances

GRAVE BREACHES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 12 AUGUST 1949, punishable under Articles 6, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  wilful killing

(b)  torture or inhumane treatment

(c)  wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health

(d)    wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or civilian the rights of fair and regular trial

(e)  unlawful confinement of a civilian

(f)  unlawful deportation of a civilian

(iv)            The targeting of specific groups, in particular the Cham, Vietnamese, Buddhists and former officials of the Khmer Republic, including both civil servants and former military personnel and their families;

GENOCIDE, by killing, punishable under Articles 4, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  Cham

(b)  Vietnamese

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under Articles 5, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  murder

(b)  extermination

(c)  deportation

(d)  imprisonment

(e)  torture

(f) persecution on racial grounds

(g)  persecution on religious grounds

(h)  other inhumane acts through enforced disappearances

GRAVE BREACHES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS OF 12 AUGUST 1949, punishable under Articles 6, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a) wilful killing

(v) Regulation of marriage

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under Articles 5, 29 (new) and 39 (new) of the ECCC Law, specifically:

(a)  rape

(b)  other inhumane acts through forced marriage

1526.       These crimes increased in scale and gravity when, having taken power over the whole territory, the CPK leaders endeavoured to carry through the revolutionary project by addressing its presumed failures.

1527.       With regard to the policies targeting Chams and Vietnamese, the plan to eliminate these groups may not have existed until April 1977 for the Vietnamese and from 1977 for the Cham. From that moment the members of the JCE knew that the implementation of the common purpose expanded to include the commission of genocide of these protected groups. Acceptance of this greater range of criminal means, coupled with persistence in implementation, amounted to an intention of the JCE members to pursue the common purpose through genocide.⁵²⁹³

1528.       The Co-Investigating Judges find that the common purpose came into existence before 17 April 1975 and continued until at least 6 January 1979. Its five policies were implemented on or before the temporal jurisdiction of the ECCC, which demonstrate the intent of the Charged Persons to achieve the common purpose even prior to 1975 and establishes a pattern of conduct that continued throughout the temporal jurisdiction of the ECCC.⁵²⁹⁴

1529. The members of the common purpose included, but were not limited to, members of the Standing Committee, including Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary; members of the Central Committee including Khieu Samphan; heads of CPK Ministries, including Ieng Thirith, zone and autonomous sector secretaries, and the heads of the Party Centre military divisions, as set out in the sections of this Closing Order regarding CPK structures.

1530. The contribution of the Charged Persons to the JCE was not limited to setting up the CPK Party and its administration and communication structures. As demonstrated below, they also actively contributed to the furtherance of the common purpose in many different ways throughout the whole CPK regime.⁵²⁹⁵

1531. With regard to the contribution or participation of the Charged Persons to the Joint Criminal Enterprise and their intention to further the common purpose the Co-Investigating Judges make the following legal findings: