Democratic Kampuchea’s National Anthem

(listen to MP3 attached herewith)

Glittering red blood which blankets the towns and countryside of the Kampuchean motherland!

Blood of our splendid workers and peasants!

Blood of our revolutionary youth! Blood that was transmuted into fury, anger, and vigorous struggle!

On 17 April, under the revolutionary flag!

Blood that liberated us from slavery!

Long life 17 April, the great victory! More wonderful and much more meaningful than the Angkor era!

We unite together to build up Kampuchea and a glorious society, democratic, egalitarian, and just;

Independent-master; absolutely determined to defend the country, our glorious land;

Long life! Long life! Long life new Kampuchea, democratic and gloriously prosperous; determine to raise up the revolutionary red flag to be higher; build up the country to achieve the glorious Great Leap Forward!

Independently Searching for the Truth since 1997.

MEMORY & JUSTICE

“...a society cannot know itself if it does not have an accurate memory of its own history.”

Click the control below to listen to the KR anthem:

Click here to download the anthem in MP3

Youk Chhang, Director

Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)

66 Sihanouk Blvd.,

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

t: +855 23 21 18 75

f: +855 23 21 03 58

h: +855 12 90 55 95

e: dccam@online.com.kh

www.dccam.org

www.cambodiatribunal.org

www.cambodiasri.org

Cambodian government rejects lift of immunity from prosecution for Sihanouk

August 25, 2007

The Cambodian government in Phnom Penh on Friday issued a statement to reject any proposal to lift the immunity from prosecution for former king Norodom Sihanouk.

"The Royal Government of Cambodia feels it must reject absolutely any idea to lift the immunity for prosecution held by His Majesty The King Father, Preah Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, and to state clearly that this matter was clearly and definitively excluded at the time of the former king's retirement," said the statement.

"We recall that The King Father was, like his fellow citizens of Cambodia, a victim of the war in Indochina, caused by the intervention of foreign powers, and of the resultant Khmer Rouge ( namely the Democratic Kampuchea, DK) regime in which His Majesty lost 14 members of his family," it said.

"All is well known," it added, "the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia states clearly in Article 7: The King of Cambodia shall reign but shall not govern. The King shall be the Head of State for life. The King shall be inviolable."

It is the responsibility of the co-prosecutors and co- investigating judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) to decide whom to try, within the jurisdiction of the court, which limited to senior leaders of DK and those most responsible for serious crimes under Cambodian and international laws, it said.

"It is the view of the Royal Government of Cambodia that such public agitation could have the result of jeopardizing the peace and unity of the Kingdom of Cambodia and play into the hands of those who would seek to return our country to its former state of war and chaos," it added.

Sihanouk retired as king of Cambodia in 2004. His son Norodom Sihamoni succeeded him.

The ECCC was designed by the United Nations and the Cambodian government to try former Democratic Kampuchea (DK) leaders on charges of crimes against humanity between 1975 and 1979.

Source: Xinhua

Roundup: ECCC overcomes complexity, adopts internal rules for DK trials

June 13, 2007

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has overcome legal complexity and adopted the internal rules for the trials of former leaders of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) on Wednesday.

Cambodian and foreign judges of the ECCC finally adopted the internal rules after a week-long meeting, Kong Srim, the president of the Supreme Court Chamber of ECCC, said at a press conference.

"We unanimously adopted the internal rules of ECCC yesterday after concluding a week-long plenary session between national and international judicial officers," he said.

"The internal rules enable us to hold fair, transparent trial before an independent and impartial court and the process of drafting the internal rules has been a complex one," he said.

When we have these rules, we can move forward and the court proceedings of the trials are ready to start soon, he added.

ECCC will also hold its first session on Wednesday to swear in its investigators.

Meanwhile, said a joint statement issued by the judicial officers on Wednesday, "We have resolved all of the matters that we indicated needed further discussion last November. One such complex issue has been how to ensure the rights and involvement of victims. While a familiar element of Cambodian law, this was not spelled out in detail in the ECCC Law and Agreement."

"We interpreted this to mean that victims have the right to join as civil parties. However, due to the specific character of the ECCC, we have decided that only collective, non-financial reparation is possible," it added.

The process of drafting the Internal Rules has been a complex one. The ECCC is a unique exercise in international justice. For the first time a hybrid court, taking as its foundation the national law of the country in which it is operating, has incorporated the work of Co-Investigating Judges into its process, it said.

"We have had no precedents as we worked to integrate Cambodian law and procedure and the particular characteristics and structure of this court, while ensuring that international standards are upheld," it added.

Over the past eleven months of discussions, judges from different countries with differing legal systems, including from common law systems, have found mutually acceptable solutions whilst ensuring fair trial, it said.

"The ECCC judges are acutely aware that the Cambodian people have waited a long time for this process to get under way. We are all committed to completing these trials in a timely manner while ensuring the highest standards of justice are upheld," it added.

The second plenary session of the ECCC was held in Phnom Penh on June 4-13, which aimed to adopt the internal rules for the ECCC.

Several months of disagreement among judges ended on April 28 when the Cambodian Bar Association offered to reduce registration fees to 500 U.S. dollars per year from 4,900 U.S. dollars for foreign lawyers wishing to practice at ECCC.

The internal rules are a prerequisite for ECCC, which is designed by the United Nations and the Cambodian government to try former DK leaders on charges of crimes against humanity between 1975 and 1979. The whole process is expected to cost 56.3 million U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua