Showing posts with label Chea Leang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chea Leang. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Monday, May 07, 2012
Kasper-Ansermet: Khmer Rouge tribunal staff tampering with Case 004
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| Chea Leang in pain |
Bridget Di Certo and Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post
“There is no proof, he is leaving, so he is just making pain for others” - CPP Chea Leang writhing in pain long after LKA left
Current and former staff at the Khmer Rouge tribunal have criminally interfered with investigations into government opposed Case 004 and their actions have been reported to prosecutors within the Cambodian court system, the outgoing reserve international co-investigating judge said on Friday.
In his final statement in the role, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet slammed staff at the court, including his Cambodian counterpart You Bunleng, whose conduct the Swiss national said amounted to “a serious interference with the conduct of the judicial investigation in Case Files 003 and 004”.
“The Reserve International Co-Investigating Judge has therefore brought this matter to the attention of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” Kasper-Ansermet said in his statement.
Before departing the court on Friday, Kasper-Ansermet said he had also reported the results of his own internal investigation of the interference by court staff in the two government-opposed cases 003 and 004 to prosecution authorities in Cambodia.
After announcing his resignation in March, Kasper-Ansermet issued a lengthy note describing the “egregious dysfunctions” at the court including a mafia-like system of orders, originating from You Bunleng and disseminated throughout offices involved in investigations in cases 003 and 004, to block the Swiss national and his investigators from conducting their work.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Prosecution: Cambodia was turned "into a massive slave camp"
Nov 21, 2011
DPA
DPA
Phnom Penh - The UN-backed war crimes court heard Monday that the Khmer Rouge had converted Cambodia into 'a massive slave camp, turning the entire nation into a prison' during its 1975-79 rule.
Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang said the crimes with which the court has charged the three defendants 'are among the worst horrors inflicted on any nation in modern history.'
Chea Leang was addressing the court on the first day of the trial against the surviving leaders of the communist Rouge movement.
'Cambodia became an open-air prison in which the prisoners were continually watched,' she said. 'Men, women and children performed labour in absolute silence. The working conditions were appalling.'
Thursday, June 23, 2011
It’s better off resigning than living in shame: Resigning UN KRT staff Peter Foster
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| Chea Leang, You Bunleng and Siegfried are NOT seeking justice for the KR victims: Peter Foster |
22 June 2011
By Pech Bandol
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Click here to read the article in Khmer
UN legal officials have decided to walk out one after another after political pressure was exerted on the KR Tribunal (KRT) – an institution which should have been independent.
Peter Foster, the former UN legal affairs official – who was formerly the KRT spokesman involved in the unsuccessful summon of Norodom Sihanouk for questioning for his involvement with the KR regime – resigned amid surprise on the issue he raised: it’s better off resigning than living in shame. Peter Foster indicated that the UN-supported KRT will face disgrace in Cambodia in the future. This is why a group of UN legal officials resigned from their positions one after another. Recently, 6 legal affairs officials from the Co-Investigating Judges’ office have resigned because they are displeased by the judges preventing them from dealing with Case 003.
The resignation of these UN officials shows their support for Andrew Cayley, the international co-prosecutor, who is putting effort to bring forth Case 003/004 in which 2 former KR superior officers are accused for their responsibility in the killings during the KR regime.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
More leaked documents highlight Khmer Rouge tribunal under fire in Cambodia
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| TAINTED PROSECUTOR AND JUDGES: Chea Leang, You Bunleng and Siegfried Blunk |
It is the latest scandal to rock the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, as it prepares to begin the trial of the four most senior surviving leaders of the regime that killed some 2 million Cambodians in the 1970s.
June 15, 2011
By Jared Ferrie, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
Chiang Mai, Thailand
“It'd be devastating to the confidence and trust of Cambodians, and a blow to international criminal justice,” [Theary Seng] says, adding that such a failure could lead to the “embedding of an irreversible cynicism among a people and a society already mired in distrust and paranoia.”
A slew of resignations at Cambodia’s war crimes tribunal have prompted calls for the United Nations to intervene.
The mass resignation of UN-employed staff at an international tribunal is unprecedented, say observers, and highlights internal concerns about the court’s independence – including whether some of its judges have bowed to political pressure from the Cambodian government.
If steps are not taken to save the reputation of the UN-backed court, it could undermine not only the tribunal's credibility but faith in the international justice system itself.
It is the latest in a series of scandals to rock the UN-backed court in recent weeks as it prepares to bring to trial the four most senior surviving leaders of the regime that presided over the deaths of some 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.
The embattled Office of the Co-investigating Judges has reportedly lost four of six members of its legal team. Some resigned in protest of what they say was a purposefully flawed investigation into a politically sensitive war crimes case.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Leaked document casts doubt on impartiality of Khmer Rouge judges
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| Prosecutor and judges bought out by Hun Xen Critics have accused Ms. Chea and the investigating judges, German Siegfried Blunk and Cambodian You Bunleng, of bowing to political pressure. |
As the UN-backed tribunal prepares to bring more former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial, a confidential document obtained by the Monitor raises questions about the judges' independence.
June 8, 2011
By Jared Ferrie, Correspondent
Chiang Mai, Thailand
The Christian Science Monitor
As an international tribunal prepares to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial beginning June 27, a confidential document obtained by The Christian Science Monitor raises questions about the UN-backed court’s ability to independently prosecute members of the brutal regime.
The 2008 court document reveals when tribunal prosecutors laid out their case against two former military commanders, they requested that the investigating judges detain them.
The level of detail in the document builds a strong case against the commanders, but the judges ignored the request to detain them and didn’t even summon the suspects for questioning during 20 months of investigation. The judges lack of response underscores concerns about their ability to carry out their duties. When they announced April 29 that they had concluded their investigation, many victims and observers were outraged, pointing out that investigators failed to question suspects and witnesses, or even inspect sites that could contain mass graves.
“[This] could in no way amount to an investigation in the eyes of any reasonable observer and is nothing short of a slap in the face to the millions of victims of the Khmer Rouge,” says Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR).
On Tuesday, the coinvestigating judges rejected a request by International Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley to extend the investigation, sparking a new round of criticism from observers and watchdog groups.
“If the judges had ever been serious about carrying out their legal obligations, as well as their ethical ones, they would be looking for a way to conduct the investigations with thoroughness and precision,” says Clair Duffy of the Open Society Justice Initiative. “Instead they've availed themselves of every opportunity to shut them down.”
She adds that it was “particularly disturbing” that the judges treated allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity with such “flippancy.”
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Judges dismiss Case 003 requests
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| Clowns In Justice robe: Bandit You Bunleng (L) and Herr Doktor Siegfried Blunk (R) |
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post
“The whole thing with the deadline and the secrecy of the cases – the whole thing is a mess,” said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. “It indicates that they’re not paying attention to what’s at stake, and that’s justice for the victims.”
Judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal have rejected calls for further investigation in the court’s controversial third case, bringing it one step closer to what critics say is its long-planned dismissal.
In a decision dated yesterday, co-investigating judges Siegfried Blunk and You Bunleng dismissed the requests from British co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley on a technicality.
The judges announced the conclusion of their Case 003 investigation in April, though during the 20 months that the investigation was open, they failed to examine a number of alleged crime sites or even to question the suspects in the case.
Lacking support from Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang, who has toed the government’s line in opposing the court’s third and fourth cases, Cayley therefore submitted a series of additional investigative requests last month, as he is permitted to do under court rules. In their ruling yesterday, however, the judges said these requests were invalid because Cayley had not formally registered a disagreement on the issue with Chea Leang ahead of his submission, nor had she formally delegated the task to him to undertake on his own.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Co-prosecutor responds to Cayley
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| Co-Prosecutors Andrew Cayley and Chea Leang exchange words at the ECCC last year. ECCC/Pool |
James O’Toole and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post
KHMER Rouge tribunal co-prosecutor Chea Leang has responded to a statement from her international counterpart calling for further investigation in the court’s controversial third case, reiterating her opposition to the investigation and claiming that the suspects are out of the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
In a statement on Monday, international co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley said he believed allegations set forth by the prosecution in a 2009 submission to the court’s investigating judges “have not been fully investigated”. The statement followed an announcement from the investigating judges last month that they had concluded their Case 003 investigation, though they did limited field investigation and did not even interview the suspects in the case, causing court observers to charge that the investigation had been deliberately curtailed in the face of government opposition.
Cayley listed a series of additional investigative steps in his statement that he said he planned to request that the judges perform, as he is permitted to do under the rules of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal is formally known.
Cambodian officials, however, have repeatedly expressed opposition to Case 003 as well as the still-pending Case 004, and yesterday, Chea Leang renewed her claim that the suspects in Case 003 fall outside the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
Prosecutor Questions Tribunal Jurisdiction in Third Case
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| All in a happy CPP family: Chea Leang (L) is the niece of Xok An (R) who is Hun Xen's right hand man |
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 10 May 2011
"Those named in the case are “neither senior leaders nor those who were most responsible during the period of Democratic Kampuchea.” (sic!)
The Cambodian prosecutor for the Khmer Rouge tribunal announced Tuesday that potential suspects named in a third case for the UN-backed court do not fall under its mandate, putting herself at odds with her international counterpart and reviving debate over two contentious cases.
Prosecutor Chea Leang said in a statement the suspects in Case 003, whose names are confidential, should not be prosecuted or investigated further, as they are not the persons most responsible for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.
Her statement follows complaints by several victims of the Khmer Rouge naming those they thought responsible under cases 003 and 004.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Case 003: The plot thickens as Chea Leang opposes this case
http://www.box.net/shared/2b4n64m2dt
http://www.box.net/shared/o6347bekxq
10 May 2011
PRESS RELEASE
STATEMENT BY THE NATIONAL CO-PROSECUTOR REGARDING CASE FILE 003
The National Co-Prosecutor, CHEA Leang, makes this public statement pursuant to ECCC Internal Rule 54 regarding Case File 003.
In view of the first preliminary investigation by the International Co-Prosecutor and the latest investigation leading to the closure of investigation by the Co-Investigating Judges, the National Co-Prosecutor thoroughly examined and maintained that the suspects mentioned the Case File 003 were not either senior leaders or those who were most responsible during the period of Democratic Kampuchea.
In accordance with the Law on the Establishment of Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (the “ECCC Law”) and the preamble of the Agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia concerning the Prosecution under Cambodian Law of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (“UN-RGC Agreement”) dated 18 December 2002 and the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of the legitimate concern of the Royal Government of Cambodia and the people of Cambodia in the pursuit of justice and national reconciliation, stability, peace and security, the selection of two categories of suspects were made: senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of the Cambodian penal law, international humanitarian law and custom, and international conventions recognized by Cambodia, that were committed during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979.
Further, the National Co-Prosecutor opines that priorities should be given to the prosecution of the Accused in the custody of the ECCC Detention Facility. In light of the UN-RGC Agreement and the ECCC Law that envisaged the prosecution of a limited number of people.
For the reasons given, the National Co-Prosecutor maintains that the named suspects in Case File 003 do not fall within the jurisdiction of the ECCC to be brought to trial and that the Tribunal’s mandate can be adequately fulfilled through the prosecution of the Accused persons in the ECCC Detention Facility.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Why does Chea Leang, an ECCC prosecutor, visit Hanoi?
State President affirms close ties with Cambodia
03/30/2010
VOV News (Hanoi)
Vietnam wants to strengthen the traditional friendship, fine neighbourliness and cooperation with Cambodia, State President Nguyen Minh Triet told co-prosecutor Chea Leang at a reception in Hanoi on March 30.
Mr Triet acknowledged the positive developments in cooperative relations between the two countries through regular exchange of high-level visits, especially a Cambodia visit by Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh last December.
He noted that bilateral ties in economics, trade and investment have grown and flourished recently and that Vietnamese businesses have increased investment in telecommunications, energy, mining, rubber plantation and waterways transport in Cambodia.
He welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, laying a legal framework for increasing cooperation between the two agencies. He proposed that the two agencies implement the MoU effectively to help elevate bilateral relationship.
Ms Chea Leang briefed Mr Triet on the outcome of her working session with the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam and said both sides will work and build a mechanism for exchanging information and expertise.
She said her agency wants to make further contributions to strengthening the friendship and cooperation between Cambodia and Vietnam.
Mr Triet acknowledged the positive developments in cooperative relations between the two countries through regular exchange of high-level visits, especially a Cambodia visit by Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh last December.
He noted that bilateral ties in economics, trade and investment have grown and flourished recently and that Vietnamese businesses have increased investment in telecommunications, energy, mining, rubber plantation and waterways transport in Cambodia.
He welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, laying a legal framework for increasing cooperation between the two agencies. He proposed that the two agencies implement the MoU effectively to help elevate bilateral relationship.
Ms Chea Leang briefed Mr Triet on the outcome of her working session with the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam and said both sides will work and build a mechanism for exchanging information and expertise.
She said her agency wants to make further contributions to strengthening the friendship and cooperation between Cambodia and Vietnam.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Theary Seng's reply
NPC Newsmaker Theary Seng with author Chanrithy Him at the National Press Club (Washington, DC, 5 March 2010).Please find below Ms. Theary Seng's reply to the following question asked by one KI-Media Reader:
The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (or formally, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC) can only provide “symbolic”, “proximate” and “selective” justice, not perfect, comprehensive justice.
To try only 5 (with the real possibility of an even more narrow possibility of Duch being the sole scapegoat!) is not enough; to try everyone—which could be in the thousands theoretically—is not practical, realistic or beneficial to the country; it works against reconciliation and would cause social and political instability.
There is no magic number of how many should be tried; an additional five to the existing five is not unreasonable. What is unacceptable is when politics interfere in the process and the Prime Minister acts as the prosecutor and the Judge.
The ECCC is a court of law which as a legal mechanism is greatly limited in its ability to provide legal accountability.
First of all, any court of law is limited by its narrow mandate to convict or to let go based on available evidence. And the limitations are further circumscribed by rules of procedure, evidentiary rules, courtroom decorum, arcane language/legalese and other fair trial rights.
Second, in addition to the general limitations, the ECCC is even more limited by the 30-year old evidence (lost, compromised or witnesses are dead or too fearful to come forward), charges of corruption, political interference, scope of the crimes and magnitude of crime scene, 3 different official languages, natural and ill-will delays etc.
Currently, the ECCC is detaining five individuals:
However, Prime Minister Hun Sen has expressly blocked this possibility: "If the court wants to charge more former senior Khmer Rouge cadres, [it] must show the reasons to Prime Minister Hun Sen” referring to himself in the third person. The political interference of the Prime Minister Hun Sen in this regard is unacceptable.
I am a bit swamped to provide a more detailed response than the above. But hopefully soon, I will have time to refine my outline from the various talks I’ve been giving at the World Bank and the National Press Club here in Washington, DC on the ECCC to shed further light on the matter.
____________
Theary C. SENG, from Washington, DC. temporarily
"How so, Ms. Theary Seng, please?"
According to Theary Seng: "Were all Khmer Rouge involved in killings to be tried, the country could see instability, she said, echoing concerns of Prime Minister Hun Sen and other Cambodian court officials."
The statement above plays into mr. hun sen's manipulation of the khmer rouge tribunal. Over 1.7 millions lost their lives during the khmer rouge, yet Mr. hun sen cleverly manipulates the court by using the excuse such as "instability". Does the khmer rouge tribunal work for Mr. hun sen? No one should be exempted from the crime against humanity. If you committed a crime you must be punished, regardless of circumstances.
4:50 AM
The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (or formally, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC) can only provide “symbolic”, “proximate” and “selective” justice, not perfect, comprehensive justice.
To try only 5 (with the real possibility of an even more narrow possibility of Duch being the sole scapegoat!) is not enough; to try everyone—which could be in the thousands theoretically—is not practical, realistic or beneficial to the country; it works against reconciliation and would cause social and political instability.
There is no magic number of how many should be tried; an additional five to the existing five is not unreasonable. What is unacceptable is when politics interfere in the process and the Prime Minister acts as the prosecutor and the Judge.
The ECCC is a court of law which as a legal mechanism is greatly limited in its ability to provide legal accountability.
First of all, any court of law is limited by its narrow mandate to convict or to let go based on available evidence. And the limitations are further circumscribed by rules of procedure, evidentiary rules, courtroom decorum, arcane language/legalese and other fair trial rights.
Second, in addition to the general limitations, the ECCC is even more limited by the 30-year old evidence (lost, compromised or witnesses are dead or too fearful to come forward), charges of corruption, political interference, scope of the crimes and magnitude of crime scene, 3 different official languages, natural and ill-will delays etc.
Currently, the ECCC is detaining five individuals:
- (i) Case File 001: Duch under “those most responsible”, which has gone to trial and we are not awaiting the verdict, expected within the next several days; and
- (ii) Case File 002: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith under “senior Khmer Rouge leaders”, whose trial is expected to start early next year 2011.
However, Prime Minister Hun Sen has expressly blocked this possibility: "If the court wants to charge more former senior Khmer Rouge cadres, [it] must show the reasons to Prime Minister Hun Sen” referring to himself in the third person. The political interference of the Prime Minister Hun Sen in this regard is unacceptable.
I am a bit swamped to provide a more detailed response than the above. But hopefully soon, I will have time to refine my outline from the various talks I’ve been giving at the World Bank and the National Press Club here in Washington, DC on the ECCC to shed further light on the matter.
____________
Theary C. SENG, from Washington, DC. temporarily
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Why would visiting Yuon minister Ha Hung Cuong meet with Chea Leang?
ECCC Co-prosecutor Chea Leang (Photo: AFP)Vietnam, Cambodia strengthen judicial cooperation
12/22/2009
VOV News (Hanoi)
The Vietnamese and Cambodian ministers of justice have briefly discussed a draft agreement on legal aid in civil and trade matters during a visit to Cambodia by a delegation from the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice.
Vietnamese Minister Ha Hung Cuong and his counterpart, Ang Vong Vattana, held an official meeting in Phnom Penh on December 22 to exchange experiences in the field and discuss ways to boost cooperation between the two Ministries of Justice.
The agreement under discussion is expected to facilitate the settlement of disputes arising from civil and trade matters.
At the end of the meeting, the two judicial ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two ministries in improving professional skills, legislation, and human resources training. Accordingly, the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice will help train employees of its Cambodian counterpart.
As part of the official visit to Cambodia from December 21-24, Minister Ha greeted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and worked with the President of the Cambodian Supreme Court, Dith Munty, and its General Prosecutor Chea Leang.
Vietnamese Minister Ha Hung Cuong and his counterpart, Ang Vong Vattana, held an official meeting in Phnom Penh on December 22 to exchange experiences in the field and discuss ways to boost cooperation between the two Ministries of Justice.
The agreement under discussion is expected to facilitate the settlement of disputes arising from civil and trade matters.
At the end of the meeting, the two judicial ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two ministries in improving professional skills, legislation, and human resources training. Accordingly, the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice will help train employees of its Cambodian counterpart.
As part of the official visit to Cambodia from December 21-24, Minister Ha greeted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and worked with the President of the Cambodian Supreme Court, Dith Munty, and its General Prosecutor Chea Leang.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
New UN Prosecutor Faces Tough Challenges
By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
04 December 2009
Original report from Washington
04 December 2009
The UN’s new prosecutor for the Khmer Rouge tribunal faces at least two challenges as he begins work at the court, observers of the hybrid court say.
For starters, Andrew Carley, a British prosecutor appointed to the UN side of the court this week, will have to work side by side with his counterpart, Chea Leang, to ensure adequate prosecution of four senior Khmer Rouge leaders currently in detention, said Long Panhavuth, a project officer for the Open Society Justice Institute, which oversees the tribunal.
“Both prosecutors have to unanimously agree and join shoulders to execute [the case], to ensure that the investigation in Case No. 002 is completed, good, adequate and with independence guaranteed,” he said.
Tribunal judges have said the end of this year they will conclude their investigation of the four leaders, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, in a case that promises to be more complicated that the trial of Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch, which wrapped up last week.
Carley, who has not yet arrived, will also have to face the question of further indictments, a position promoted by his predecessor, Robert Petit, who left earlier this year.
The question of further indictments beyond the five cadre now in custody divided the prosecution office, with judge Chea Leang maintaining the same position of Prime Minister Hun Sen, that the current caseload is enough and that further arrests could lead to instability.
Hun Sen reiterated this warning Thursday, saying he would prefer to see the court fail than have the country “fall into war.”
A coalition of civil society groups said Friday they were not concerned that proceedings of the Khmer Rouge tribunal have the potential of igniting civil war in Cambodia.
For starters, Andrew Carley, a British prosecutor appointed to the UN side of the court this week, will have to work side by side with his counterpart, Chea Leang, to ensure adequate prosecution of four senior Khmer Rouge leaders currently in detention, said Long Panhavuth, a project officer for the Open Society Justice Institute, which oversees the tribunal.
“Both prosecutors have to unanimously agree and join shoulders to execute [the case], to ensure that the investigation in Case No. 002 is completed, good, adequate and with independence guaranteed,” he said.
Tribunal judges have said the end of this year they will conclude their investigation of the four leaders, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, in a case that promises to be more complicated that the trial of Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch, which wrapped up last week.
Carley, who has not yet arrived, will also have to face the question of further indictments, a position promoted by his predecessor, Robert Petit, who left earlier this year.
The question of further indictments beyond the five cadre now in custody divided the prosecution office, with judge Chea Leang maintaining the same position of Prime Minister Hun Sen, that the current caseload is enough and that further arrests could lead to instability.
Hun Sen reiterated this warning Thursday, saying he would prefer to see the court fail than have the country “fall into war.”
A coalition of civil society groups said Friday they were not concerned that proceedings of the Khmer Rouge tribunal have the potential of igniting civil war in Cambodia.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Nuon Chea Defense Lawyer Claims Documents Stolen
By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 June 2009
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 June 2009
An international defense lawyer for Pol Pot’s No. 2 lieutenant said Thursday documents related to the Khmer Rouge tribunal were likely stolen from his Phnom Penh office.
The attorney, Michael Pestman, said the incident had made him concerned for his security. Pestman has pushed hard for the office of Cabinet Minister Sok An to release results of a UN investigation on corruption.
Pestman said he noticed some documents floating in a ditch on his way to the office recently. He found there drafts of a confidential letter he’d sent to the court last week.
“They were most probably stolen from our office,” he said.
A tribunal spokesman said an investigation would be conducted into the allegation.
Nuon Chea is facing war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN-backed tribunal, but his defense team has said the corruption within the tribunal affects the court’s ability to conduct a fair trial.
The tribunal has faced persistent allegations that staff members pay kickbacks for their positions.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the allegations were “only accusations” and noted that the government and UN are working on finding a means to address such allegations in the future.
The UN and Cambodian governemnt are at loggerheads over whether complainants of corruption at the court should remain anonymous. The Cambodian side says so-called whistleblowers should be named.
Pestman also told reporters Thursday that he had “reliable sources” to confirm “the government has power over Cambodian co-prosecutors” to prevent further indictments of former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang, who is at odds with her UN counterpart over whether more defendants should be indicted by the tribunal, denied the charge.
The attorney, Michael Pestman, said the incident had made him concerned for his security. Pestman has pushed hard for the office of Cabinet Minister Sok An to release results of a UN investigation on corruption.
Pestman said he noticed some documents floating in a ditch on his way to the office recently. He found there drafts of a confidential letter he’d sent to the court last week.
“They were most probably stolen from our office,” he said.
A tribunal spokesman said an investigation would be conducted into the allegation.
Nuon Chea is facing war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN-backed tribunal, but his defense team has said the corruption within the tribunal affects the court’s ability to conduct a fair trial.
The tribunal has faced persistent allegations that staff members pay kickbacks for their positions.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the allegations were “only accusations” and noted that the government and UN are working on finding a means to address such allegations in the future.
The UN and Cambodian governemnt are at loggerheads over whether complainants of corruption at the court should remain anonymous. The Cambodian side says so-called whistleblowers should be named.
Pestman also told reporters Thursday that he had “reliable sources” to confirm “the government has power over Cambodian co-prosecutors” to prevent further indictments of former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang, who is at odds with her UN counterpart over whether more defendants should be indicted by the tribunal, denied the charge.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Political meddling at ECCC confirmed, say intl lawyers
Co-prosecutors Robert Petit, of Canada, and Cambodian Chea Leang at the Extraordinary Chambers in this file photograph. Lawyers for former Brother No 2 Nuon Chea have accused Chea Leang of receiving instructions from the government. (Photo by: AFP/ECCC POOL)Thursday, 04 June 2009
Written by Georgia Wilkins
The Phnom Penh Post
Foreign lawyers for Nuon Chea have accused top court officials of breaching the tribunal's independence laws, amid pressure from the government.
INTERNATIONAL lawyers at the Khmer Rouge tribunal said they have been "reliably informed" that national co-prosecutor Chea Leang has received instructions from the government not to prosecute more suspects at the UN-backed court.
They also said they have evidence suggesting that the government blocked judges from interviewing Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Father Norodom Sihanouk, as well as other top government officials, as part of an investigation into their client.
In four separate emails sent to the two investigating judges and two prosecutors - and forwarded to the press - the foreign lawyers representing Nuon Chea claimed the top officials were in breach of the court's law on independence and requested them to confirm or deny allegations in writing.
"We are reliably informed that you [Chea Leang] have received instructions from the [government] not to pursue the prosecutions which form the basis of the disagreement," an email to Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang stated.
"Therefore, on information and belief, it appears your office may be in breach of ... the ECCC agreement and ... the ECCC law," it added.
An email to international co-prosecutor Robert Petit claimed lawyers had also been "reliably informed" Petit was in possession of "actual or constructive knowledge" that Chea Leang had received such instructions, and, as such, accused Petit of being in breach of the same court laws.
Petit would not comment on the allegations Wednesday except to say that he had read the email, and that he was "well aware of [his] responsibilities, both as a UN official and a member of the bar".
The emails to the judges cited a recent report by court monitors at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which said court sources had verified that the government was "attempting to block" the investigating judges from interviewing certain "insider" or "high-level witnesses" in the government. As a result, lawyers said, judges were also in breach of court law.
Co-lawyer Michiel Pestman confirmed that allegations towards the judges related to the recent dismissal of requests by his defence team to interview the prime minister and other government officials. He would not name any of the sources for the information.
"Without independent judges, there's never going to be a fair trial," Pestman said.
Chea Leang said Wednesday that she had not yet read the email and so could not comment. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan could not be reached for comment.
In a press conference earlier in the day, Chea Leang denied that there was political interference at the court. "This court is an independent court," she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NETH PHEAKTRA
INTERNATIONAL lawyers at the Khmer Rouge tribunal said they have been "reliably informed" that national co-prosecutor Chea Leang has received instructions from the government not to prosecute more suspects at the UN-backed court.
They also said they have evidence suggesting that the government blocked judges from interviewing Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Father Norodom Sihanouk, as well as other top government officials, as part of an investigation into their client.
In four separate emails sent to the two investigating judges and two prosecutors - and forwarded to the press - the foreign lawyers representing Nuon Chea claimed the top officials were in breach of the court's law on independence and requested them to confirm or deny allegations in writing.
"We are reliably informed that you [Chea Leang] have received instructions from the [government] not to pursue the prosecutions which form the basis of the disagreement," an email to Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang stated.
"Therefore, on information and belief, it appears your office may be in breach of ... the ECCC agreement and ... the ECCC law," it added.
An email to international co-prosecutor Robert Petit claimed lawyers had also been "reliably informed" Petit was in possession of "actual or constructive knowledge" that Chea Leang had received such instructions, and, as such, accused Petit of being in breach of the same court laws.
Petit would not comment on the allegations Wednesday except to say that he had read the email, and that he was "well aware of [his] responsibilities, both as a UN official and a member of the bar".
The emails to the judges cited a recent report by court monitors at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which said court sources had verified that the government was "attempting to block" the investigating judges from interviewing certain "insider" or "high-level witnesses" in the government. As a result, lawyers said, judges were also in breach of court law.
Co-lawyer Michiel Pestman confirmed that allegations towards the judges related to the recent dismissal of requests by his defence team to interview the prime minister and other government officials. He would not name any of the sources for the information.
"Without independent judges, there's never going to be a fair trial," Pestman said.
Chea Leang said Wednesday that she had not yet read the email and so could not comment. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan could not be reached for comment.
In a press conference earlier in the day, Chea Leang denied that there was political interference at the court. "This court is an independent court," she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NETH PHEAKTRA
Monday, March 30, 2009
Confession expected as Duch trial resumes
A child looks at skulls inside a stupa at the popular tourist site Phnom Sampov near Samlot in Battambang province, some 291 kilometres northwest of Phnom Penh this month. The resumption of Duch's trial today may bring new light to bear on generations-old moral questions for the Kingdom. (Photo by: AFP)Monday, 30 March 2009
Written by Thet Sambath and Georgia Wilkins
The Phnom Penh Post
Samlot
Tuol Sleng chief's admission of guilt would come amid questions of whether the perpetrators of Khmer Rouge atrocities can also be victims.
HIM Huy, one of the only surviving guards from Tuol Sleng prison, knows that he stands in the middle of one of Cambodia's greatest moral dilemmas: Can the perpetrators of the worst Khmer Rouge atrocities also claim to be victims of the regime?
The 53-year-old's stint at the Khmer Rouge's torture centre may have helped keep the wheels of the paranoid regime well-oiled, but Him Huy now says he was a prisoner of ideology and a slave to the orders of his higher-ups.
"I am also a victim of the Khmer Rouge. If I did not respect and practice Angkar's orders, I would have been executed like the other prisoners," he says.
This emotional moral quandary will begin to be publicly debated today, when the trial of Him Huy's former boss, prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, resumes and both victims and perpetrators take the stand to testify about the regime's most notorious detention centre.
"Right now, there isn't anything that exists that pulls the entire story together," says Alex Hinton, author of Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide.
"By the end of this, we will have a much more complete picture of how S-21 ran, with links all the way up to the central committee," he adds.
Although the trial opened formally last month, Monday marks the beginning of the substantive hearings, in which survivors, prison guards and family members of the more than 12,000 men, women and children who were tortured at Tuol Sleng and sent to their deaths will be called upon to tell their stories.
A born-again Christian and former maths teacher, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his revolutionary name Duch, has been described as both a meticulous, calculated killer, and a passive, subservient actor who slavishly passed on orders from the top.
Of the five former leaders detained at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, he is the only one to admit his role in killings that occurred during the 1975-79 regime - a confession that is likely to be repeated at his trial.
"The things that will emerge most clearly are how the entire S-21 apparatus worked, going all the way from arresting people to taking them to Choeung Ek or the grounds just outside S-21 and killing them," Hinton said.
But in every trial dealing with war crimes, Hinton said, the biggest ethical question is: how do you distinguish between good and evil in an ideology so extreme that it was kill or be killed?
Duch (back row, second from right) photographed with other S-21 guards at Tuol Sleng during the regime.
"My brother had no power to decide who was killed. What he did was on the order of senior leaders," said Hong Kim Hong, Duch's sister who now works at Samlot district's health centre, told the Post last week.
"Ieng Thirith told the court it was Nuon Chea who ordered Duch to do it," she said, referring to an unprompted outburst by the former social affairs minister for the regime during her pretrial hearing.
"So it means that my brother is not guilty because he just did what the senior leaders told him to," she said.
Duch cannot plead guilty, as in civil law jurisdictions there is generally no such legal concept. In the court's hybrid system, a confession by the defendant will be treated like any other piece of evidence, and a full confession - which Duch is widely expected to give - does not prevent a full trial from occurring or relieve the plaintiff from its duty of presenting a case to the trial chambers.
For many who knew Duch when he found God, such as San Thy Matathe, a pastor who witnessed Duch's mid-1990s baptism in a western Cambodia river, the 66-year-old's decision to cooperate with the court was motivated by his new religion.
"If he had not believed in God, he would not have confessed his crimes," San Thy Matathe told AFP last week.
Although Him Huy has not found God like his former boss, he, too, says that telling the court in detail the ways in which he carried out orders to brutalise will give him closure.
"When I know clearly why there was an order to torture and to kill people, my conscience will be cleared," he said. "History pages will be closed by the ECCC. We will know who gave the orders and who was behind these massacres."
Fears of confessing
Him Huy is a public face on the thousands of cadres who made up an intricate hierarchy of regime officials, some defiant and others regretful about their roles as small pieces of the regime's machinery.
"[Testimonies at the court are] a very important step for the healing of a nation because reconciliation is not only about the victims or the winners of war, but the perpetrators and former enemies as well," says genocide researcher Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
But with the first trial at the court finally starting, many former perpetrators are afraid to come forward, even as witnesses, for fear of being imprisoned.
"My wife and I can't sleep well since court was formed. We are worried about security and we always think any day the court will summon me," says one former cadre who now lives under an assumed name.
Another high-ranking Khmer Rouge cadre, who was in charge of the northwest zone after the previous chief, Ros Nhim, was arrested in 1978, agreed.
A former cadre who wanted to be referred to only as Roeun, also questioned the value of the trials.
"Why is Duch being tried if he was a very low-ranking Khmer Rouge member? We are afraid we'll be the next to be arrested and tried because we are higher [ranking] than him," he said.
Expand the trials?
For many overseas observers, the trial must broaden its net regardless of the fears for national reconciliation and stability.
"Many more [former leaders] need to face the court to really deliver justice to the millions of victims of these horrific crimes," Amnesty International said Saturday in a statement, quoting Brittis Edman, Amnesty's Cambodia researcher.
Robert Petit, the court's foreign co-prosecutor, has said that he wants more former regime members investigated. However, his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, disagrees on the basis of national security. The impasse has been made formal and sent to the pretrial chamber for a decision.
Many ex-Khmer Rouge agree with Chea Leang.
Meas Muth, a former military commander and widely considered to be on Petit's second list of suspects, said indicting more people would spark unrest.
"If more Khmer Rouge cadres are accused and detained, there will be problems and disorder in the former Khmer Rouge areas," Meas Muth said.
Regardless of whether more cadre are rounded up, for Youk Chhang the first trial is a huge step towards understanding - for everyone.
"There may be no single answer to what really happened. However, we all have the obligation to participate in the search for truth," he says.
Francois Roux, Duch's international co-lawyer, says that Duch will uphold a promise made last month to ask forgiveness for his role in the regime.
"I would like to repeat Duch's words: ‘I will apologise to the victims, but I won't ask the victims to pardon me yet."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NETH PHEAKTRA
HIM Huy, one of the only surviving guards from Tuol Sleng prison, knows that he stands in the middle of one of Cambodia's greatest moral dilemmas: Can the perpetrators of the worst Khmer Rouge atrocities also claim to be victims of the regime?
The 53-year-old's stint at the Khmer Rouge's torture centre may have helped keep the wheels of the paranoid regime well-oiled, but Him Huy now says he was a prisoner of ideology and a slave to the orders of his higher-ups.
"I am also a victim of the Khmer Rouge. If I did not respect and practice Angkar's orders, I would have been executed like the other prisoners," he says.
This emotional moral quandary will begin to be publicly debated today, when the trial of Him Huy's former boss, prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, resumes and both victims and perpetrators take the stand to testify about the regime's most notorious detention centre.
"Right now, there isn't anything that exists that pulls the entire story together," says Alex Hinton, author of Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide.
"By the end of this, we will have a much more complete picture of how S-21 ran, with links all the way up to the central committee," he adds.
Although the trial opened formally last month, Monday marks the beginning of the substantive hearings, in which survivors, prison guards and family members of the more than 12,000 men, women and children who were tortured at Tuol Sleng and sent to their deaths will be called upon to tell their stories.
A born-again Christian and former maths teacher, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his revolutionary name Duch, has been described as both a meticulous, calculated killer, and a passive, subservient actor who slavishly passed on orders from the top.
Of the five former leaders detained at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, he is the only one to admit his role in killings that occurred during the 1975-79 regime - a confession that is likely to be repeated at his trial.
"The things that will emerge most clearly are how the entire S-21 apparatus worked, going all the way from arresting people to taking them to Choeung Ek or the grounds just outside S-21 and killing them," Hinton said.
But in every trial dealing with war crimes, Hinton said, the biggest ethical question is: how do you distinguish between good and evil in an ideology so extreme that it was kill or be killed?
Duch (back row, second from right) photographed with other S-21 guards at Tuol Sleng during the regime.
"My brother had no power to decide who was killed. What he did was on the order of senior leaders," said Hong Kim Hong, Duch's sister who now works at Samlot district's health centre, told the Post last week.
"Ieng Thirith told the court it was Nuon Chea who ordered Duch to do it," she said, referring to an unprompted outburst by the former social affairs minister for the regime during her pretrial hearing.
"So it means that my brother is not guilty because he just did what the senior leaders told him to," she said.
Duch cannot plead guilty, as in civil law jurisdictions there is generally no such legal concept. In the court's hybrid system, a confession by the defendant will be treated like any other piece of evidence, and a full confession - which Duch is widely expected to give - does not prevent a full trial from occurring or relieve the plaintiff from its duty of presenting a case to the trial chambers.
For many who knew Duch when he found God, such as San Thy Matathe, a pastor who witnessed Duch's mid-1990s baptism in a western Cambodia river, the 66-year-old's decision to cooperate with the court was motivated by his new religion.
"If he had not believed in God, he would not have confessed his crimes," San Thy Matathe told AFP last week.
Although Him Huy has not found God like his former boss, he, too, says that telling the court in detail the ways in which he carried out orders to brutalise will give him closure.
"When I know clearly why there was an order to torture and to kill people, my conscience will be cleared," he said. "History pages will be closed by the ECCC. We will know who gave the orders and who was behind these massacres."
Fears of confessing
Him Huy is a public face on the thousands of cadres who made up an intricate hierarchy of regime officials, some defiant and others regretful about their roles as small pieces of the regime's machinery.
"[Testimonies at the court are] a very important step for the healing of a nation because reconciliation is not only about the victims or the winners of war, but the perpetrators and former enemies as well," says genocide researcher Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
But with the first trial at the court finally starting, many former perpetrators are afraid to come forward, even as witnesses, for fear of being imprisoned.
"My wife and I can't sleep well since court was formed. We are worried about security and we always think any day the court will summon me," says one former cadre who now lives under an assumed name.
Another high-ranking Khmer Rouge cadre, who was in charge of the northwest zone after the previous chief, Ros Nhim, was arrested in 1978, agreed.
"IF MORE KHMER ROUGE ... ARE ACCUSED AND DETAINED, THERE WILL BE PROBLEMS.""I am living in a quiet place, away from my village since the court was formed. I am worried the court will arrest me," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It is not only me, my former comrades who were senior officials are also hiding and trying to hide their background since the court was set up," he added.
A former cadre who wanted to be referred to only as Roeun, also questioned the value of the trials.
"Why is Duch being tried if he was a very low-ranking Khmer Rouge member? We are afraid we'll be the next to be arrested and tried because we are higher [ranking] than him," he said.
Expand the trials?
For many overseas observers, the trial must broaden its net regardless of the fears for national reconciliation and stability.
"Many more [former leaders] need to face the court to really deliver justice to the millions of victims of these horrific crimes," Amnesty International said Saturday in a statement, quoting Brittis Edman, Amnesty's Cambodia researcher.
Robert Petit, the court's foreign co-prosecutor, has said that he wants more former regime members investigated. However, his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, disagrees on the basis of national security. The impasse has been made formal and sent to the pretrial chamber for a decision.
Many ex-Khmer Rouge agree with Chea Leang.
Meas Muth, a former military commander and widely considered to be on Petit's second list of suspects, said indicting more people would spark unrest.
"If more Khmer Rouge cadres are accused and detained, there will be problems and disorder in the former Khmer Rouge areas," Meas Muth said.
Regardless of whether more cadre are rounded up, for Youk Chhang the first trial is a huge step towards understanding - for everyone.
"There may be no single answer to what really happened. However, we all have the obligation to participate in the search for truth," he says.
Francois Roux, Duch's international co-lawyer, says that Duch will uphold a promise made last month to ask forgiveness for his role in the regime.
"I would like to repeat Duch's words: ‘I will apologise to the victims, but I won't ask the victims to pardon me yet."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NETH PHEAKTRA
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Soldier Defends Tuol Sleng Film
Former Vietnamese Army photographer, Ho Van Tay, right, and reporter Dinh Phong, left, gather with Cambodian Norng Chanphal, 39, along with his daughters Chen Amara, 6, and Chen Kimty, 13, at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Feb 15, 2009. Chanphal was one of five children discovered by the former Vietnamese Army journalists when the infamous S21 prison was liberated in January of 1979. A U.N.-backed genocide tribunal is set to begin on Feb. 17, 2009, to try five Khmer Rouge leaders accused of crimes against humanity. Kaing Guek Eav, the commander of Toul Sleng under the Khmer rouge, also known 'Duch' will be the first leader tried. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
20 February 2009
A Vietnamese soldier and cameraman defended as “true” a film he shot of Tuol Sleng prison during the ouster of the Khmer Rouge, which could be used as evidence in tribunal proceedings.
Ding Phong, now 71, shot footage of Tuol Sleng prison as Vietnamese forces liberated Phnom Penh in Januray 1979, but the film has come under criticism from defense lawyers for former Khmer Rouge leaders facing atrocity crimes trials.
“The documentary shot in Tuol Sleng is true,” Dinh Phong said Thursday, before returning to Vietnam after a six-day visit to Cambodia to deliver his film to researchers. “What we shot 30 years ago is the truth.”
Lawyers for Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who is the first to face trial under the tribunal, said the films were not unbiased.
“This is a documentary which has a political character,” said Kar Savuth, an attorney for Duch, or Kaing Kek Iev, who saw his initial trial hearing this week. “It cannot be used [as evidence] in the trial.”
“What he mentioned is an accusation,” Dinh Phong said, denying the political assertion.
Tribunal prosecutor Chea Leang has requested that two Vietnamese filmmakers, who have donated their films to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, be brought before the Trial Chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, to defend their work.
Dinh Phong said Thursday he would only answer questions outside the court.
Ding Phong, now 71, shot footage of Tuol Sleng prison as Vietnamese forces liberated Phnom Penh in Januray 1979, but the film has come under criticism from defense lawyers for former Khmer Rouge leaders facing atrocity crimes trials.
“The documentary shot in Tuol Sleng is true,” Dinh Phong said Thursday, before returning to Vietnam after a six-day visit to Cambodia to deliver his film to researchers. “What we shot 30 years ago is the truth.”
Lawyers for Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who is the first to face trial under the tribunal, said the films were not unbiased.
“This is a documentary which has a political character,” said Kar Savuth, an attorney for Duch, or Kaing Kek Iev, who saw his initial trial hearing this week. “It cannot be used [as evidence] in the trial.”
“What he mentioned is an accusation,” Dinh Phong said, denying the political assertion.
Tribunal prosecutor Chea Leang has requested that two Vietnamese filmmakers, who have donated their films to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, be brought before the Trial Chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, to defend their work.
Dinh Phong said Thursday he would only answer questions outside the court.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Khmer Rouge Figure to Go Before Court
Sunday, February 15, 2009
By Tim Johnston
Washington Post Foreign Service
By Tim Johnston
Washington Post Foreign Service
BANGKOK -- On Tuesday, after more than 30 years of delays and controversy, a member of Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime will appear in court for the first time charged with crimes against humanity.
Kaing Khek Iev, better known by his nom de guerre, Duch, was the head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation center in the capital, Phnom Penh. More than 15,000 people are believed to have passed through the center, known as Security Prison 21 during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule. Only 12 are known to have survived.
Duch, who converted to Christianity in the late 1990s, is the only high-profile member of the Khmer Rouge to have expressed remorse for his actions. The 66-year-old former math teacher will appear for an initial hearing before the U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday and is expected to take the stand later in his trial, providing an insight into the mind-set behind one of the 20th century's most brutal political experiments.
"We want to understand why this human being did what he did to other human beings," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
As many as 1.7 million Cambodians -- about a fifth of the population -- were killed or succumbed to disease, malnutrition and overwork in the four years before Vietnamese forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.
Despite that shocking toll, only five people have been indicted by the joint Cambodian and international legal entity set up after prolonged negotiations between the United Nations and the Cambodian government.
Duch's fellow indictees are Nuon Chea, the movement's deputy leader, known as Brother No. 2 during the regime; Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge president; Ieng Sary, the group's foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was the social affairs minister. They are all fighting the charges.
Pol Pot, the architect of the regime's brutal policies, died -- apparently of natural causes -- in 1998.
The trials have so far cost more than $50 million and have been dogged by persistent rumors of corruption and allegations that the Cambodian government, which is led by former Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen, has tried to hold up the process.
A public dispute broke out late last year between Chea Leang, the Cambodian co-prosecutor and a niece of one of Hun Sen's deputies, and Robert Petit, her international counterpart.
The court has investigated an additional six senior members of the Khmer Rouge, and Petit wanted them charged. Chea Leang objected, saying that the investigations should not proceed "on account of Cambodia's past instability and the continued need for national reconciliation."
The court's supporters say they hope the trials will promote reconciliation in their own way, but with a recent survey showing that 85 percent of Cambodians know little or nothing about the process, some critics are asking how much they will mean for ordinary people who still have to live alongside their former tormentors.
Kaing Khek Iev, better known by his nom de guerre, Duch, was the head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation center in the capital, Phnom Penh. More than 15,000 people are believed to have passed through the center, known as Security Prison 21 during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule. Only 12 are known to have survived.
Duch, who converted to Christianity in the late 1990s, is the only high-profile member of the Khmer Rouge to have expressed remorse for his actions. The 66-year-old former math teacher will appear for an initial hearing before the U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday and is expected to take the stand later in his trial, providing an insight into the mind-set behind one of the 20th century's most brutal political experiments.
"We want to understand why this human being did what he did to other human beings," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
As many as 1.7 million Cambodians -- about a fifth of the population -- were killed or succumbed to disease, malnutrition and overwork in the four years before Vietnamese forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.
Despite that shocking toll, only five people have been indicted by the joint Cambodian and international legal entity set up after prolonged negotiations between the United Nations and the Cambodian government.
Duch's fellow indictees are Nuon Chea, the movement's deputy leader, known as Brother No. 2 during the regime; Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge president; Ieng Sary, the group's foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was the social affairs minister. They are all fighting the charges.
Pol Pot, the architect of the regime's brutal policies, died -- apparently of natural causes -- in 1998.
The trials have so far cost more than $50 million and have been dogged by persistent rumors of corruption and allegations that the Cambodian government, which is led by former Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen, has tried to hold up the process.
A public dispute broke out late last year between Chea Leang, the Cambodian co-prosecutor and a niece of one of Hun Sen's deputies, and Robert Petit, her international counterpart.
The court has investigated an additional six senior members of the Khmer Rouge, and Petit wanted them charged. Chea Leang objected, saying that the investigations should not proceed "on account of Cambodia's past instability and the continued need for national reconciliation."
The court's supporters say they hope the trials will promote reconciliation in their own way, but with a recent survey showing that 85 percent of Cambodians know little or nothing about the process, some critics are asking how much they will mean for ordinary people who still have to live alongside their former tormentors.
First Khmer Rouge trial to begin
Former Khmer Rouge prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav (right), talks with his defence lawyer, Francois Roux (Photo: AFP/ GETTY IMAGES)The first member of the Khmer Rouge to stand trial for crimes against humanity is to appear in the dock this week.
15 Feb 2009
By Thomas Bell in Phnom Penh
The Telegraph (UK)
But Cambodia's 30-year wait for justice is far from over.
The first defendant, on Tuesday, is Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, 66, a quietly spoken maths teacher turned chief executioner of the ultra-Maoist regime that ruled Cambodia between 1975-79.
Around 1.7 million people, or a fifth of the population, died in a little over three years of Khmer Rouge rule, executed, tortured, starved or worked to death. Justice has been slow to arrive and the court has been blighted by scandal. Many in Phnom Penh fear that Duch – who was relatively low in the political pecking order- will be the only perpetrator to face justice.
Duch, pronounced "Doik", was the commandant of the S-21 prison, where supposed enemies of the regime were tortured in a former Phnom Penh high school before being driven to the killing fields and clubbed to death.
The prison's surviving records show that 12,380 people were tortured and killed although the true number may be higher. The black and white photographs of the victims exhibited at the site, now a museum, show that many of them were children. Most of them confessed to elaborate fantasies involving the CIA and the KGB before they were slaughtered.
Legal experts consider the case a simple one. Now a born again Christian, Duch has confessed to his role and asked forgiveness. His handwriting is also found throughout the prison's archive, issuing orders to "smash" prisoners.
Only around 12 prisoners are known to have survived S-21. In a unique experiment victims of the Khmer Rouge will be represented in court by lawyers, with the right to ask questions and influence proceedings.
"I want to ask him why he killed his own people, and why did his men torture me?" said Chum Manh, an S-21 survivor. "What motivated them to commit such heinous crimes?"
But even as the first trial gets underway the court's credibility is widely questioned. The tribunal, jointly run by the United Nations and the Cambodian government, was established in 2006 after a decade of strained negotiations.
A confidential United Nations report last August detailed reports of corruption in hiring Cambodian staff which have still not been addressed. The UN has since frozen funding to the Cambodian side of the court.
An even more profound issue is how many people to prosecute. The court's mandate is to prosecute only top leaders and those "most responsible" for atrocities, but that definition could easily include dozens of individuals.
Four more suspects – all members of the top political leadership of the Khmer Rouge – are in custody but their trial has been delayed until 2010. Many court watchers believe the Cambodian government wants to stall procedings until the already frail defendants die rather than rake over sensitive history in court.
The prime minister, Hun Sen, and several members of the government, are former Khmer Rouge cadres. Hun Sen has said that Cambodia "should dig a whole and bury the past". He has consistently opposed conducting more than "four or five" trials.
The international prosecutor, Robert Petit, has prepared indictments against six more suspects. Foreigners involved in the process say more trials are essential to the credibility of the process. But the move has been opposed by Cambodian court officials, prompting renewed accusations of political interference.
15 Feb 2009
By Thomas Bell in Phnom Penh
The Telegraph (UK)
But Cambodia's 30-year wait for justice is far from over.
The first defendant, on Tuesday, is Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, 66, a quietly spoken maths teacher turned chief executioner of the ultra-Maoist regime that ruled Cambodia between 1975-79.
Around 1.7 million people, or a fifth of the population, died in a little over three years of Khmer Rouge rule, executed, tortured, starved or worked to death. Justice has been slow to arrive and the court has been blighted by scandal. Many in Phnom Penh fear that Duch – who was relatively low in the political pecking order- will be the only perpetrator to face justice.
Duch, pronounced "Doik", was the commandant of the S-21 prison, where supposed enemies of the regime were tortured in a former Phnom Penh high school before being driven to the killing fields and clubbed to death.
The prison's surviving records show that 12,380 people were tortured and killed although the true number may be higher. The black and white photographs of the victims exhibited at the site, now a museum, show that many of them were children. Most of them confessed to elaborate fantasies involving the CIA and the KGB before they were slaughtered.
Legal experts consider the case a simple one. Now a born again Christian, Duch has confessed to his role and asked forgiveness. His handwriting is also found throughout the prison's archive, issuing orders to "smash" prisoners.
Only around 12 prisoners are known to have survived S-21. In a unique experiment victims of the Khmer Rouge will be represented in court by lawyers, with the right to ask questions and influence proceedings.
"I want to ask him why he killed his own people, and why did his men torture me?" said Chum Manh, an S-21 survivor. "What motivated them to commit such heinous crimes?"
But even as the first trial gets underway the court's credibility is widely questioned. The tribunal, jointly run by the United Nations and the Cambodian government, was established in 2006 after a decade of strained negotiations.
A confidential United Nations report last August detailed reports of corruption in hiring Cambodian staff which have still not been addressed. The UN has since frozen funding to the Cambodian side of the court.
An even more profound issue is how many people to prosecute. The court's mandate is to prosecute only top leaders and those "most responsible" for atrocities, but that definition could easily include dozens of individuals.
Four more suspects – all members of the top political leadership of the Khmer Rouge – are in custody but their trial has been delayed until 2010. Many court watchers believe the Cambodian government wants to stall procedings until the already frail defendants die rather than rake over sensitive history in court.
The prime minister, Hun Sen, and several members of the government, are former Khmer Rouge cadres. Hun Sen has said that Cambodia "should dig a whole and bury the past". He has consistently opposed conducting more than "four or five" trials.
The international prosecutor, Robert Petit, has prepared indictments against six more suspects. Foreigners involved in the process say more trials are essential to the credibility of the process. But the move has been opposed by Cambodian court officials, prompting renewed accusations of political interference.
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