Tribunal Urges Victims to File Proper Complaints

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
02 October 2009

The head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Victims Unit said Friday victims who wished to file complaints for the upcoming case against four jailed leaders of the regime should take care to file properly, to ensure speedy processing.

Some filings have included different names and dates of birth, which have delayed the process, chief of the unit Helen Jarvis said. Sometimes survivors changed their names and dates, and “this is something we have to take into account,” she said.

Hong Kimsuon, a lawyer for civil parties, said the names were indeed different for many people from one regime to the next.

The UN-backed tribunal is preparing for the case against four leaders: chief ideologue Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith.

The Victims Unit has asked that complaints by civil parties be filed by mid-November, as the first tribunal trial, for prison chief Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch, draws to a close.

“Over recent months, the Victims Unit has played a greater role in assessing completeness and internal consistency of applications made, in order to reduce delays associated with such deficiencies at later stages of the process,” Jarvis said.

Lawyer Urges Khmer Rouge Victims to File Complaints

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
13 December 2007

A Cambodian lawyer whose lost family members under the Khmer Rouge urged other victims to file complaints with the tribunal, to join a rare chance for reconciliation.

The chance to participate in trials of former regime leaders was rare and should be taken, said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, who was the first victim to file a suit against Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea.

Even though the jailed former leaders of the regime had not directly killed her parents, they ordered the killings, she said.

"They did not directly kill my parents and other victims, but they were policymakers," she said, as guest on "Hello VOA."

Civil cases will be tried separately from the criminal cases now facing the jailed leaders.

Nuon Chea was the chief ideologue of the regime and was arrested in September. He has been jailed along with four other former leaders, all of whom await trial on atrocity crimes charges.