Showing posts with label Hun Sen's govt interference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hun Sen's govt interference. Show all posts
Monday, June 08, 2009
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Khmer Rouge lawyers say documents stolen from office, left in moat
Thu, 04 Jun 2009
DPA
DPA
Phnom Penh - Lawyers for a former Khmer Rouge leader said Thursday that confidential documents were stolen from their office at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal and left in a moat outside the court's detention facility. Michael Pestman, international co-lawyer for Khmer Rouge chief ideologue Noun Chea, said he found the documents after a visit to his client in the detention facility Wednesday.
"We saw documents floating in the moat, and after I fished them out, they turned out to be a draft letter from our office, which should have been shredded," he said. "This is a serious breech of security, and this document was most probably stolen from our office."
Pestman said the document was a draft of letter sent to Helen Jarvis, head of the tribunal's victims unit, which related to an open letter she signed in 2006 when she was a member of an Australian socialist political party.
Nuon Chea's lawyers earlier this week criticized Jarvis, an Australian citizen who was formerly the court's public affairs chief, over the letter, in which she and more than 50 other members of the Leninist Party Faction of the Democratic Socialist Party declared their position on an ideological dispute.
"We too are Marxists and believe that 'the end justifies the means,'" the declaration said. "In time of revolution and civil war, the most extreme measures will sometimes become necessary and justified. Against the bourgeoisie and their state agencies, we don't respect their laws and their fake moral principles."
Pestman said the position expressed in the declaration led him to have "serious concerns" over Jarvis' suitability for the role as head of the victims unit and as an ethics monitor in the trial of five former leaders of Cambodia's 1975-1979 Maoist regime.
"We are not saying that she does not have the right to hold personal political views, but we are concerned that she signed a letter stating that she does not have to follow the rule of law," he said. "We are concerned that this could affect our client's right to a fair trial."
Jarvis has remained silent on the issue and has not replied to the lawyers' letter.
Pestman refused to speculate on who had taken the draft letter from his legal team's office.
He said a security official at the court had launched an investigation into the incident.
Five former Khmer Rouge leaders are facing trial at the court for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the group's rule.
The trial of Kaing Guek Eav, former warden of the Tuol Sleng torture prison in Phnom Penh, began in February.
None of the other four detainees have been indicted yet.
The tribunal was established in 2006 after a decade of negotiations between the Cambodian Government and the United Nations. For the past year, it has been dogged by allegations of government interference in the trials and corruption on the Cambodian side of the court.
Nuon Chea's lawyers also this week sent letters to the court's chief prosecutors and co-investigating judges claiming to have evidence of government interference.
A letter to prosecutor Chea Leang accused her of breaching the court's rules by acting on the government's instructions to not extend the court's investigation to more former Khmer Rouge members.
Chea Leang's decision not to extend the investigation led to a disagreement with her international co-prosecutor, which was made public in February.
"We are reliably informed that you have received instructions from the [government] not to pursue the prosecutions that form the basis of the current disagreement," the defence team's letter said.
In a letter to You Bunleng, co-investigating judge, Nuon Chea's lawyers asked: "Have you received any member or official of the Royal Government of Cambodia with respect to our teams seventh and/or 10th request for investigative action?"
The former leaders' lawyers have accused the country's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of stifling attempts to extend the tribunal's investigation out of fear that high-ranking government officials could face prosecution.
Many CPP politicians, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, are former Khmer Rouge cadres.
"We saw documents floating in the moat, and after I fished them out, they turned out to be a draft letter from our office, which should have been shredded," he said. "This is a serious breech of security, and this document was most probably stolen from our office."
Pestman said the document was a draft of letter sent to Helen Jarvis, head of the tribunal's victims unit, which related to an open letter she signed in 2006 when she was a member of an Australian socialist political party.
Nuon Chea's lawyers earlier this week criticized Jarvis, an Australian citizen who was formerly the court's public affairs chief, over the letter, in which she and more than 50 other members of the Leninist Party Faction of the Democratic Socialist Party declared their position on an ideological dispute.
"We too are Marxists and believe that 'the end justifies the means,'" the declaration said. "In time of revolution and civil war, the most extreme measures will sometimes become necessary and justified. Against the bourgeoisie and their state agencies, we don't respect their laws and their fake moral principles."
Pestman said the position expressed in the declaration led him to have "serious concerns" over Jarvis' suitability for the role as head of the victims unit and as an ethics monitor in the trial of five former leaders of Cambodia's 1975-1979 Maoist regime.
"We are not saying that she does not have the right to hold personal political views, but we are concerned that she signed a letter stating that she does not have to follow the rule of law," he said. "We are concerned that this could affect our client's right to a fair trial."
Jarvis has remained silent on the issue and has not replied to the lawyers' letter.
Pestman refused to speculate on who had taken the draft letter from his legal team's office.
He said a security official at the court had launched an investigation into the incident.
Five former Khmer Rouge leaders are facing trial at the court for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the group's rule.
The trial of Kaing Guek Eav, former warden of the Tuol Sleng torture prison in Phnom Penh, began in February.
None of the other four detainees have been indicted yet.
The tribunal was established in 2006 after a decade of negotiations between the Cambodian Government and the United Nations. For the past year, it has been dogged by allegations of government interference in the trials and corruption on the Cambodian side of the court.
Nuon Chea's lawyers also this week sent letters to the court's chief prosecutors and co-investigating judges claiming to have evidence of government interference.
A letter to prosecutor Chea Leang accused her of breaching the court's rules by acting on the government's instructions to not extend the court's investigation to more former Khmer Rouge members.
Chea Leang's decision not to extend the investigation led to a disagreement with her international co-prosecutor, which was made public in February.
"We are reliably informed that you have received instructions from the [government] not to pursue the prosecutions that form the basis of the current disagreement," the defence team's letter said.
In a letter to You Bunleng, co-investigating judge, Nuon Chea's lawyers asked: "Have you received any member or official of the Royal Government of Cambodia with respect to our teams seventh and/or 10th request for investigative action?"
The former leaders' lawyers have accused the country's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of stifling attempts to extend the tribunal's investigation out of fear that high-ranking government officials could face prosecution.
Many CPP politicians, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, are former Khmer Rouge cadres.
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, June 01, 2009
KR Tribunal is a balancing act: Comrade Hor 5 Hong
Cambodian FM says genocide trial a balancing act
2009-06-01
By KELLY OLSEN
Associated Press
2009-06-01
By KELLY OLSEN
Associated Press
Cambodia's genocide tribunal must balance the need for justice with that of ensuring stability in the Southeast Asian country, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that expanding the tribunal's scope beyond the five senior Khmer Rouge leaders in custody could divide the country. During its rule in the late 1970s, a total of 1.7 million people died and critics say that such a small number of defendants is unrealistic given the scope of the genocide.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said "we have to seek justice for our people" while considering the "peace and stability in the country." He said the government is not interfering with the operation of the tribunal.
He was speaking in an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of a summit between South Korea and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that began Monday.
Hun Sen, who is also attending the summit, said in March that expanding the genocide tribunal could spark a war and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in his impoverished country. But the comments merely seemed aimed at putting pressure on the tribunal.
Critics of the tribunal, which is jointly run by Cambodia and the United Nations, charge that the government has sought to limit its scope because other suspects are now loyal to Hun Sen, and to arrest them could cause political trouble. There have even been suspicions that the trials may be halted.
Human Rights Watch said in February that the tribunal's credibility was threatened by allowing "political considerations" to get in the way of additional indictments.
International prosecutor Robert Petit has said he wants as many as six more possible defendants charged, but Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang has resisted that.
Hor Namhong also said that watching the genocide trials, which are televised in Cambodia, is difficult as it dredges up the suffering he and his family endured during the reign, which lasted from 1975-1979. He said that he and his wife lost more than 30 members of their family.
But he added that convictions may also ultimately prove cathartic.
"Maybe that could help people to calm down their moral suffering," he said.
Hor Namhong's own role during the Khmer Rouge regime has been controversial and the subject of several lawsuits. He was among hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals who were living abroad and returned home at the request of the Khmer Rouge.
Upon their return many were held at the Boeng Trabek re-education camp and eventually executed. Hor Namhong sued an opposition leader for suggesting that he held a position of authority at the camp.
__
APTN producer Jerry Harmer contributed to this report from Seogwipo and Associated Press Writer Grant Peck from Bangkok.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that expanding the tribunal's scope beyond the five senior Khmer Rouge leaders in custody could divide the country. During its rule in the late 1970s, a total of 1.7 million people died and critics say that such a small number of defendants is unrealistic given the scope of the genocide.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said "we have to seek justice for our people" while considering the "peace and stability in the country." He said the government is not interfering with the operation of the tribunal.
He was speaking in an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of a summit between South Korea and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that began Monday.
Hun Sen, who is also attending the summit, said in March that expanding the genocide tribunal could spark a war and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in his impoverished country. But the comments merely seemed aimed at putting pressure on the tribunal.
Critics of the tribunal, which is jointly run by Cambodia and the United Nations, charge that the government has sought to limit its scope because other suspects are now loyal to Hun Sen, and to arrest them could cause political trouble. There have even been suspicions that the trials may be halted.
Human Rights Watch said in February that the tribunal's credibility was threatened by allowing "political considerations" to get in the way of additional indictments.
International prosecutor Robert Petit has said he wants as many as six more possible defendants charged, but Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang has resisted that.
Hor Namhong also said that watching the genocide trials, which are televised in Cambodia, is difficult as it dredges up the suffering he and his family endured during the reign, which lasted from 1975-1979. He said that he and his wife lost more than 30 members of their family.
But he added that convictions may also ultimately prove cathartic.
"Maybe that could help people to calm down their moral suffering," he said.
Hor Namhong's own role during the Khmer Rouge regime has been controversial and the subject of several lawsuits. He was among hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals who were living abroad and returned home at the request of the Khmer Rouge.
Upon their return many were held at the Boeng Trabek re-education camp and eventually executed. Hor Namhong sued an opposition leader for suggesting that he held a position of authority at the camp.
__
APTN producer Jerry Harmer contributed to this report from Seogwipo and Associated Press Writer Grant Peck from Bangkok.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tribunal graft charges spread [-Why does Germany's Bundestag hide this online report now?]
Friday, 27 February 2009
Written by Cat Barton
The Phnom Penh Post
Written by Cat Barton
The Phnom Penh Post
German delegation exposes results of secret UN probe; staff concur
IT became a monthly ritual: Employees on the Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal would get paid, and then they would - somewhat grudgingly - hand over some of their salaries to their supervisors.
"You get paid in full, but when you [collect] it, you put it in an envelope and give it to the collector," a former employee at the UN-backed court told the Post in an interview late last year, describing how many of those working at the court were forced to hand over a percentage of their paychecks to higher-placed officials.
"In front of people, you're told to say, ‘No one is taking away my money,' [and] the money transferred into your account is the full amount, but then you have to ... give over the percentage," the employee said.
These kickback allegations are at the heart of a corruption scandal that has plagued the tribunal since they first came to light in 2006.
Despite denials from Cambodian court officials, the accusations were of enough concern to spark a review by the UN - the results of which have never been made public.
But a report from a German parliamentary delegation, written in November after its members met with the tribunal's deputy director of administration, Knut Rosandhaug, has shed some light on the graft allegations, detailing a bleak assessment of the court's corruption problems.
"A serious problem is the grave corruption which impedes on the work of the hybrid court," the report cites Rosandhaug as saying.
"Cambodian employees are required to pay kickbacks in order to be able to work," the report says, with the authors - members of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid Committee of the German parliament - using the German term schutzgelder, which literally means protection money.
Rosandhaug told the Post Thursday that he had no comment, as the “document referred to is issued by an entity outside the UN and the ECCC.”
“It is now for the Germans to comment,” he added.
The report had been available on the Bundestag website but was unavailable Thursday afternoon with no explanation. Rainer Buescher, the delegation’s press officer, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The report’s findings, however, support accounts given by tribunal staffers and the concerns of lawyers for Brother No 2, Nuon Chea, who have sought to launch a criminal investigation into the alleged graft.
“It certainly confirms some of our worst suspicions,” Andrew Ianuzzi, a legal consultant for Nuon Chea’s defence team, said Thursday.
One court staffer explained in a series of interviews conducted with the Post how the kickback operation worked.
“For the first four months [of my contract], I paid 70 percent [of my salary in kickbacks], then it went down to 10 percent,” said the employee, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
“Let’s say you are the supervisor. You have 30 people under you, so the people under you know to give their envelope [containing the kickback] to you, and you hand it to Sean Visoth,” the employee said, referring to Cambodia’s top court administrator who is implicated in the Bundestag report. “In all the sections, it’s the same thing.”
The scheme was deeply unpopular – “Would you like it if you got paid, then your money got taken away?” the employee asked – but was maintained by a climate of fear.
“I’m afraid, if they know I talk to you, they’re not going to take a gun and shoot me in my face, but they will find some way [to fire me] … or they [will hurt] my kids,” the employee said.
“I can tell you until the day you close the door, the corruption will still go on,” the employee added.
“Anyone who speaks, they will be terminated.... They will set up their committee and find a way to get rid of that person who has talked, and that is why up to now” no information has come out.
Included in the Bundestag report are details of last July’s UN probe.
“It is deeply troubling – everyone had been placing blame for corruption on the Cambodian government, but now it seems like someone or some officials with the UN are involved in a potential coverup,” Ianuzzi said.
“It is very damaging for the credibility of the tribunal. Why are international officers protecting corrupt Cambodian officials?” he added.
The report cites Rosandhaug as saying that “the United Nations should withdraw from the tribunal, in case the national government continues to object following up on the corruption allegations”.
“Until today, the government categorically denies the existence of that problem. The United Nations would suffer from a loss of credibility if they’d support a tribunal which is characterised by corruption,” he said, according to the report.
In January, the Nuon Chea defence team filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, claiming unresolved graft allegations threatened the legitimacy of the tribunal and violated their client’s right to a fair trial. The lawyers accused Sean Visoth and the court’s former chief of personnel, Keo Thyvuth, of violating criminal law by “perpetrating, facilitating, aiding and/or abetting an organised regime of institutional corruption at the ECCC during the pending judicial investigation”. They also demanded the results of the UN investigation be released.
The complaint prompted a criminal investigation, but this was abruptly dropped in February.
Sean Visoth has been on sick leave since November, and the head of the court’s public affairs department, Helen Jarvis, said she knew of no date for his planned return to work.
“As far as I know, the UN does not have authority to conduct investigations into Cambodian staffers,” she said Thursday, adding that she knew nothing about the report and could not comment on it.
Sean Visoth could not be reached Thursday, but a woman answering his phone said he was too busy to speak to a reporter.
“It is unclear from the [German] report what exactly the UN found Visoth to be guilty of – did he pay money from his position? Or did he demand money from others? From our perspective ... the latter is more complicated, as it suggests more ECCC officials may be involved,” Ianuzzi said.
“We have some information that the UN has a sectional list” of officials involved in corruption, he added.
The team says this is troubling, as the office of administration is responsible for nine sections of the court, including court management and victim support.
“If everyone in the office of administration is paying kickbacks, everyone is compromised,” Ianuzzi said.
He said the defence team now planned to write a follow-up letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and forward a copy of the delegation’s report to the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal’s prosecutor general in a bid to reopenthe criminal investigation.
In addition, the delegation’s report quotes Rosandhaug as saying the Cambodian government “tries to interfere in the work of the tribunal”.
“The government of Cambodia has already signalled that it will not allow for additional criminal investigations to be opened,” the report says.
The court’s international co-prosecutor, Robert Petit, has sought to try an additional six suspects, but his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, has voiced opposition.
The key question now, however, is what the response – other than further hushing up of the issue – will come from the UN, Ianuzzi said.
“There is a lot of momentum. Things are moving forward. The Duch hearing last week was a success, [and] many people are emotionally and professionally invested in the tribunal, and they want to see it succeed,” he said.
“But everyone needs to take a long hard look at what are the allegations, [and] I hope Knut makes a comment. What this institution really needs is leadership, and no one is leading the ECCC at the moment.”
IT became a monthly ritual: Employees on the Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal would get paid, and then they would - somewhat grudgingly - hand over some of their salaries to their supervisors.
"You get paid in full, but when you [collect] it, you put it in an envelope and give it to the collector," a former employee at the UN-backed court told the Post in an interview late last year, describing how many of those working at the court were forced to hand over a percentage of their paychecks to higher-placed officials.
"In front of people, you're told to say, ‘No one is taking away my money,' [and] the money transferred into your account is the full amount, but then you have to ... give over the percentage," the employee said.
These kickback allegations are at the heart of a corruption scandal that has plagued the tribunal since they first came to light in 2006.
Despite denials from Cambodian court officials, the accusations were of enough concern to spark a review by the UN - the results of which have never been made public.
But a report from a German parliamentary delegation, written in November after its members met with the tribunal's deputy director of administration, Knut Rosandhaug, has shed some light on the graft allegations, detailing a bleak assessment of the court's corruption problems.
"A serious problem is the grave corruption which impedes on the work of the hybrid court," the report cites Rosandhaug as saying.
"Cambodian employees are required to pay kickbacks in order to be able to work," the report says, with the authors - members of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid Committee of the German parliament - using the German term schutzgelder, which literally means protection money.
Rosandhaug told the Post Thursday that he had no comment, as the “document referred to is issued by an entity outside the UN and the ECCC.”
“It is now for the Germans to comment,” he added.
The report had been available on the Bundestag website but was unavailable Thursday afternoon with no explanation. Rainer Buescher, the delegation’s press officer, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The report’s findings, however, support accounts given by tribunal staffers and the concerns of lawyers for Brother No 2, Nuon Chea, who have sought to launch a criminal investigation into the alleged graft.
“It certainly confirms some of our worst suspicions,” Andrew Ianuzzi, a legal consultant for Nuon Chea’s defence team, said Thursday.
One court staffer explained in a series of interviews conducted with the Post how the kickback operation worked.
“For the first four months [of my contract], I paid 70 percent [of my salary in kickbacks], then it went down to 10 percent,” said the employee, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
“Let’s say you are the supervisor. You have 30 people under you, so the people under you know to give their envelope [containing the kickback] to you, and you hand it to Sean Visoth,” the employee said, referring to Cambodia’s top court administrator who is implicated in the Bundestag report. “In all the sections, it’s the same thing.”
The scheme was deeply unpopular – “Would you like it if you got paid, then your money got taken away?” the employee asked – but was maintained by a climate of fear.
“I’m afraid, if they know I talk to you, they’re not going to take a gun and shoot me in my face, but they will find some way [to fire me] … or they [will hurt] my kids,” the employee said.
“I can tell you until the day you close the door, the corruption will still go on,” the employee added.
“Anyone who speaks, they will be terminated.... They will set up their committee and find a way to get rid of that person who has talked, and that is why up to now” no information has come out.
Included in the Bundestag report are details of last July’s UN probe.
“It is deeply troubling – everyone had been placing blame for corruption on the Cambodian government, but now it seems like someone or some officials with the UN are involved in a potential coverup,” Ianuzzi said.
“It is very damaging for the credibility of the tribunal. Why are international officers protecting corrupt Cambodian officials?” he added.
The report cites Rosandhaug as saying that “the United Nations should withdraw from the tribunal, in case the national government continues to object following up on the corruption allegations”.
“Until today, the government categorically denies the existence of that problem. The United Nations would suffer from a loss of credibility if they’d support a tribunal which is characterised by corruption,” he said, according to the report.
In January, the Nuon Chea defence team filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, claiming unresolved graft allegations threatened the legitimacy of the tribunal and violated their client’s right to a fair trial. The lawyers accused Sean Visoth and the court’s former chief of personnel, Keo Thyvuth, of violating criminal law by “perpetrating, facilitating, aiding and/or abetting an organised regime of institutional corruption at the ECCC during the pending judicial investigation”. They also demanded the results of the UN investigation be released.
The complaint prompted a criminal investigation, but this was abruptly dropped in February.
Sean Visoth has been on sick leave since November, and the head of the court’s public affairs department, Helen Jarvis, said she knew of no date for his planned return to work.
“As far as I know, the UN does not have authority to conduct investigations into Cambodian staffers,” she said Thursday, adding that she knew nothing about the report and could not comment on it.
Sean Visoth could not be reached Thursday, but a woman answering his phone said he was too busy to speak to a reporter.
“It is unclear from the [German] report what exactly the UN found Visoth to be guilty of – did he pay money from his position? Or did he demand money from others? From our perspective ... the latter is more complicated, as it suggests more ECCC officials may be involved,” Ianuzzi said.
“We have some information that the UN has a sectional list” of officials involved in corruption, he added.
The team says this is troubling, as the office of administration is responsible for nine sections of the court, including court management and victim support.
“If everyone in the office of administration is paying kickbacks, everyone is compromised,” Ianuzzi said.
He said the defence team now planned to write a follow-up letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and forward a copy of the delegation’s report to the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal’s prosecutor general in a bid to reopenthe criminal investigation.
In addition, the delegation’s report quotes Rosandhaug as saying the Cambodian government “tries to interfere in the work of the tribunal”.
“The government of Cambodia has already signalled that it will not allow for additional criminal investigations to be opened,” the report says.
The court’s international co-prosecutor, Robert Petit, has sought to try an additional six suspects, but his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, has voiced opposition.
The key question now, however, is what the response – other than further hushing up of the issue – will come from the UN, Ianuzzi said.
“There is a lot of momentum. Things are moving forward. The Duch hearing last week was a success, [and] many people are emotionally and professionally invested in the tribunal, and they want to see it succeed,” he said.
“But everyone needs to take a long hard look at what are the allegations, [and] I hope Knut makes a comment. What this institution really needs is leadership, and no one is leading the ECCC at the moment.”
Monday, February 23, 2009
Genocide on Trial [-“A lot of people ask: ‘Why only five? Why only five? Why only five?”]
Monday, February 23, 2009
By Alyssa A. Lappen
FrontPageMagazine.com
By Alyssa A. Lappen
FrontPageMagazine.com
“I have waited 30 years for this trial,” said painter Vann Nath, 63,” on the eve of Feb. 17 pre-trial proceedings in Phnom Penh's international Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). So have an estimated 3 million other survivors of Pol Pot's five-year Cambodian reign of terror.
On April 17, 1975 -- “Year Zero,” as the communist tyrant named that date -- Pol Pot's communist forces began driving people from Cambodian cities with the fanatical goal of recreating a perfect, clean, peasant-controlled, communist agrarian society. The cadres of “brother number one,” as Pol Pot was known, starved, beat and murdered up to 2 million Cambodians, more than a fifth of the population in 1975. With backing from China, Pol Pot destroyed virtually all Cambodia's doctors, attorneys, intellectuals, artists and musicians in the nation's rural areas, which quickly became killing fields. Even today, Cambodia's countryside is littered with human bones and indiscriminately placed land mines.
Bringing the perpetrators of Cambodia's genocide to justice has been a story almost as sad as the horrific atrocities themselves. Vietnamese communist forces liberated Cambodia over 30 years ago, in January 1979. However, Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge forces remained at large in Cambodia's jungles until well after Vietnamese rule ended in 1991. Cambodia at long last achieved independence and self-rule in 1993, but Khmer renegades controlled some rural areas until March 1998, when the final Khmer cadres surrendered.
Meanwhile, there were virtually no efforts to obtain justice, apart from the absurd July 1997 show trial Pol Pot received from his comrades in Anlong Veng, and his sentence of house arrest for life. Pol Pot remained under house arrest he died in 1998. His military leader, Ta Mok, likewise died in July 2006, without ever facing justice.
These “punishments” reflected the enormous conflict of interest of Cambodia's government. While self-ruled since 1993, the young polity actually had counter-incentives against seeking genocide trials. Co-Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge official, had served Vietnam's People's Republic of Kampuchea as a foreign minister from 1979 through 1990. Even in the relative calm of 1993 to 1998, when Hun shared the Prime Minister's post with Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the government rebuffed a 1994 coup, regional upheaval and pockets of Khmer Rouge unrest. Hun feared indictments against many of his regime's other former Khmer appartchiks. Moreover, he feared public scrutiny and backlash over his continued close ties with Chinese leaders, who actively backed the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 until Vietnamese rule ended in 1991. “I do not understand why some people want to remove Pol Pot,” Chinese vice premier Deng Xiaoping said in 1984. “It is true that he made some mistakes in the past but now he is leading the fight against the Vietnamese aggressors.”
In June 1997, 18 years after the Khmer reign of terror, Hun and Prince Norodom pretended to request genocide trials, asking the U.N. General Assembly to establish a tribunal like those for the Rwanda and former Yugoslavia genocides. But Cambodian conflicts of interest remained. Thus, on ascending as sole Prime Minister---following the final Khmer rebels' surrender---Hun granted criminal immunity to Noun Chea, Pol Pot's “brother number two,” and advised Cambodians to “dig a hole and bury the past” to reconcile. In 1999, Hun rejected the U.N. proposal to seat international judges on Cambodia's genocide tribunal.
Cambodian delays and U.N. Secretary General grandstanding prevented the General Assembly from reaching any agreement until March 2003. Only in 2007 did Hun Sen accept participation by foreign justices on the “hybrid” ECCC.
Still, years of wrangling seemed to remain. “This just goes on and on and I've almost lost hope there'll ever be justice,” Vann Nath said in February 2007, a decade after the Cambodian government asked the U.N. to help convene a tribunal. Indeed, three other survivors of Phnom Pehn's most notorious prison since then literally died waiting for justice.
Yet, Hun continued to delay and let corruption run amok. From 2007 to early 2009, agencies including the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), European Commission and U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (UNOIOS), alleged that Cambodian officials had demanded kick backs from local justices and court staff appointed to the ECCC. Deputy prime minister (and Khmer Rouge trials Task Force chair) Sok An repeatedly promised to investigate---but did nothing. In mid-2008, “payroll embezzlement” charges lead the UNOIOS to freeze Cambodia's portion of ECCC funding. He so abused the U.N. human rights envoy, that Yash Ghai last year quit. There were also the cost overruns endemic to such international tribunals. Originally estimated at $19 million, the ECCC budget is now expected to exceed $170 million, reports the Economist, similar to astronomical increases in 2003 Sierra Leone court mandate and the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, which together consumed over $2 billion.
But worst of all is the lack of justice. In 2007, officials finally arrested Khmer Rouge ideological chief Nuon Chea, 82; former head of state Khieu Samphan, 76; former foreign minister Ieng Sary, 82; and fellow Central Committee member and Ieng's wife, Thirith, 75. In 1999, the government also arrested Toul Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, 66, a former math teacher known as Duch (pronounced doik), who ordered the deaths of more than 14,000 prisoners in the Phnom Penh high school turned slaughter house. Now an avowed Christian, Duch admitted committing atrocities on his arrest, but claims he would have been murdered himself had he not followed orders.
In 12 years, Cambodia has detained just five perpetrators. “A lot of people ask: ‘Why only five? Why only five? Why only five?” notes Cambodian humanist Kek Galabru, adding these five are “the minimum of the minimum.” It is certainly not for lack of evidence: In 2005, Yale University's Cambodian Genocide Project handed Cambodia voluminous documents it had amassed since 1994.
Duch will be tried first. After waiting three decades to be heard about the catastrophic crimes they witnessed, only four of Duch's victims remain alive, among them painter Vann Nath, 63; Chum Mey, 77; and sole child survivor Norng Chan Phal, now 38.They watched the February 2009 ECCC pre-trial proceedings with anxious relief. “I could not sleep last night. I was waiting for sunrise so I could see Duch in the dock,” Vann said.
But it remains to be seen whether the other Khmer Rouge masterminds, old and ailing, will survive long enough to go to trial, which will not be scheduled until 2010, if ever. In sum, the international community has disappointed Cambodia as much as its own government. The “limited scope and poor design” of the international and Cambodian “hybrid” ECCC will call few surviving Democratic Kampuchea (DK) perpetrators “to account for their crimes,” sadly concludes Cambodian scholar Sopheada Phy. Once again, Khmer Rouge planners, supporters and participants may get away with mass murder.
---------------
Alyssa A. Lappen is a former Senior Fellow of the American Center for Democracy, former Senior Editor of Institutional Investor, Working Woman and Corporate Finance, and former Associate Editor of Forbes. Her website is www.AlyssaaLappen.org.
On April 17, 1975 -- “Year Zero,” as the communist tyrant named that date -- Pol Pot's communist forces began driving people from Cambodian cities with the fanatical goal of recreating a perfect, clean, peasant-controlled, communist agrarian society. The cadres of “brother number one,” as Pol Pot was known, starved, beat and murdered up to 2 million Cambodians, more than a fifth of the population in 1975. With backing from China, Pol Pot destroyed virtually all Cambodia's doctors, attorneys, intellectuals, artists and musicians in the nation's rural areas, which quickly became killing fields. Even today, Cambodia's countryside is littered with human bones and indiscriminately placed land mines.
Bringing the perpetrators of Cambodia's genocide to justice has been a story almost as sad as the horrific atrocities themselves. Vietnamese communist forces liberated Cambodia over 30 years ago, in January 1979. However, Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge forces remained at large in Cambodia's jungles until well after Vietnamese rule ended in 1991. Cambodia at long last achieved independence and self-rule in 1993, but Khmer renegades controlled some rural areas until March 1998, when the final Khmer cadres surrendered.
Meanwhile, there were virtually no efforts to obtain justice, apart from the absurd July 1997 show trial Pol Pot received from his comrades in Anlong Veng, and his sentence of house arrest for life. Pol Pot remained under house arrest he died in 1998. His military leader, Ta Mok, likewise died in July 2006, without ever facing justice.
These “punishments” reflected the enormous conflict of interest of Cambodia's government. While self-ruled since 1993, the young polity actually had counter-incentives against seeking genocide trials. Co-Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge official, had served Vietnam's People's Republic of Kampuchea as a foreign minister from 1979 through 1990. Even in the relative calm of 1993 to 1998, when Hun shared the Prime Minister's post with Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the government rebuffed a 1994 coup, regional upheaval and pockets of Khmer Rouge unrest. Hun feared indictments against many of his regime's other former Khmer appartchiks. Moreover, he feared public scrutiny and backlash over his continued close ties with Chinese leaders, who actively backed the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 until Vietnamese rule ended in 1991. “I do not understand why some people want to remove Pol Pot,” Chinese vice premier Deng Xiaoping said in 1984. “It is true that he made some mistakes in the past but now he is leading the fight against the Vietnamese aggressors.”
In June 1997, 18 years after the Khmer reign of terror, Hun and Prince Norodom pretended to request genocide trials, asking the U.N. General Assembly to establish a tribunal like those for the Rwanda and former Yugoslavia genocides. But Cambodian conflicts of interest remained. Thus, on ascending as sole Prime Minister---following the final Khmer rebels' surrender---Hun granted criminal immunity to Noun Chea, Pol Pot's “brother number two,” and advised Cambodians to “dig a hole and bury the past” to reconcile. In 1999, Hun rejected the U.N. proposal to seat international judges on Cambodia's genocide tribunal.
Cambodian delays and U.N. Secretary General grandstanding prevented the General Assembly from reaching any agreement until March 2003. Only in 2007 did Hun Sen accept participation by foreign justices on the “hybrid” ECCC.
Still, years of wrangling seemed to remain. “This just goes on and on and I've almost lost hope there'll ever be justice,” Vann Nath said in February 2007, a decade after the Cambodian government asked the U.N. to help convene a tribunal. Indeed, three other survivors of Phnom Pehn's most notorious prison since then literally died waiting for justice.
Yet, Hun continued to delay and let corruption run amok. From 2007 to early 2009, agencies including the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), European Commission and U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (UNOIOS), alleged that Cambodian officials had demanded kick backs from local justices and court staff appointed to the ECCC. Deputy prime minister (and Khmer Rouge trials Task Force chair) Sok An repeatedly promised to investigate---but did nothing. In mid-2008, “payroll embezzlement” charges lead the UNOIOS to freeze Cambodia's portion of ECCC funding. He so abused the U.N. human rights envoy, that Yash Ghai last year quit. There were also the cost overruns endemic to such international tribunals. Originally estimated at $19 million, the ECCC budget is now expected to exceed $170 million, reports the Economist, similar to astronomical increases in 2003 Sierra Leone court mandate and the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, which together consumed over $2 billion.
But worst of all is the lack of justice. In 2007, officials finally arrested Khmer Rouge ideological chief Nuon Chea, 82; former head of state Khieu Samphan, 76; former foreign minister Ieng Sary, 82; and fellow Central Committee member and Ieng's wife, Thirith, 75. In 1999, the government also arrested Toul Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, 66, a former math teacher known as Duch (pronounced doik), who ordered the deaths of more than 14,000 prisoners in the Phnom Penh high school turned slaughter house. Now an avowed Christian, Duch admitted committing atrocities on his arrest, but claims he would have been murdered himself had he not followed orders.
In 12 years, Cambodia has detained just five perpetrators. “A lot of people ask: ‘Why only five? Why only five? Why only five?” notes Cambodian humanist Kek Galabru, adding these five are “the minimum of the minimum.” It is certainly not for lack of evidence: In 2005, Yale University's Cambodian Genocide Project handed Cambodia voluminous documents it had amassed since 1994.
Duch will be tried first. After waiting three decades to be heard about the catastrophic crimes they witnessed, only four of Duch's victims remain alive, among them painter Vann Nath, 63; Chum Mey, 77; and sole child survivor Norng Chan Phal, now 38.They watched the February 2009 ECCC pre-trial proceedings with anxious relief. “I could not sleep last night. I was waiting for sunrise so I could see Duch in the dock,” Vann said.
But it remains to be seen whether the other Khmer Rouge masterminds, old and ailing, will survive long enough to go to trial, which will not be scheduled until 2010, if ever. In sum, the international community has disappointed Cambodia as much as its own government. The “limited scope and poor design” of the international and Cambodian “hybrid” ECCC will call few surviving Democratic Kampuchea (DK) perpetrators “to account for their crimes,” sadly concludes Cambodian scholar Sopheada Phy. Once again, Khmer Rouge planners, supporters and participants may get away with mass murder.
---------------
Alyssa A. Lappen is a former Senior Fellow of the American Center for Democracy, former Senior Editor of Institutional Investor, Working Woman and Corporate Finance, and former Associate Editor of Forbes. Her website is www.AlyssaaLappen.org.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Cambodia: First Trial to Test Tribunal’s Credibility
Court’s Independence Remains a Concern as Khmer Rouge Trials Begin
February 14, 2009
Human Rights Watch
The UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a hybrid tribunal in operation for three years that includes both Cambodian and international judges, faces serious allegations of corruption and political interference. On February 17, 2009, the tribunal will conduct the first procedural hearing in the trial of Kaing Gech Eav (Duch), the chief of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison and torture center. Duch is the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently facing trial before the tribunal.
"Any hint of political manipulation at the tribunal will undermine its credibility with the Cambodian people," said Sara Colm, Cambodia-based senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Until allegations of corruption and improper interference by the government are investigated and resolved, the tribunal's integrity as a legitimate and independent court will remain in question."
The Khmer Rouge tribunal consists of a majority of Cambodian judges sitting alongside international judges, with Cambodian and international co-prosecutors. The UN initially opposed the arrangement, given that Cambodia's judiciary is widely known for its lack of independence, corruption, and low professional standards.
Although the tribunal's mandate is to try "senior leaders" and "others most responsible" for atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, in December 2008 the Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed an effort by the international co-prosecutor to add six more suspects to the tribunal's caseload. The Cambodian co-prosecutor cited Cambodia's "past instability" and the "need for national reconciliation" as reasons for rejecting bringing charges against additional suspects.
"By allowing political considerations to block additional indictments, the Khmer Rouge tribunal is failing the most basic test of its independence and its credibility," said Colm. "The tribunal cannot bring justice to the millions of the Khmer Rouge's victims if it tries only a handful of the most notorious individuals, while scores of former Khmer Rouge officials and commanders remain free."
Human Rights Watch said that the United Nations and the international community, which is shouldering most of the US$50 million expended by the tribunal to date, should not bestow legitimacy to a process that does not meet international fair trial standards. Rather than pledging more funds to a flawed process with no strings attached, influential donors such as Japan, the United States, France, and Australia should insist that allegations about corruption and government interference are first resolved, Human Rights Watch said.
In a January 14 statement, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, a coalition of 21 Cambodian human rights organizations, called for the Khmer Rouge tribunal not to arbitrarily limit itself to five prosecutions, saying:
"Without further prosecutions, the ECCC will fail to deliver justice to the people of Cambodia and damage efforts to create genuine reconciliation. We fear that the efforts and achievement of the Cambodian government and people, and the international community in creating the ECCC will be squandered if the court is seen to only partially fulfill its mission. ... We urge all stakeholders in the ECCC process, including the Royal Cambodian Government and the international community, to ensure that the court is able to act independently and free of political interference or consideration, and give it full support as it acts to fulfill its mission."
February 14, 2009
Human Rights Watch
"Any hint of political manipulation at the tribunal will undermine its credibility with the Cambodian people. Until allegations of corruption and improper interference by the government are investigated and resolved, the tribunal's integrity as a legitimate and independent court will remain in question." - Sara Colm, Cambodia-based senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.(New York) - Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal, about to begin its first trial, should resist political interference and meet international fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said today. The tribunal is prosecuting Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity in the deaths of up to 2 million people in the late 1970s.
The UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a hybrid tribunal in operation for three years that includes both Cambodian and international judges, faces serious allegations of corruption and political interference. On February 17, 2009, the tribunal will conduct the first procedural hearing in the trial of Kaing Gech Eav (Duch), the chief of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison and torture center. Duch is the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently facing trial before the tribunal.
"Any hint of political manipulation at the tribunal will undermine its credibility with the Cambodian people," said Sara Colm, Cambodia-based senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Until allegations of corruption and improper interference by the government are investigated and resolved, the tribunal's integrity as a legitimate and independent court will remain in question."
The Khmer Rouge tribunal consists of a majority of Cambodian judges sitting alongside international judges, with Cambodian and international co-prosecutors. The UN initially opposed the arrangement, given that Cambodia's judiciary is widely known for its lack of independence, corruption, and low professional standards.
Although the tribunal's mandate is to try "senior leaders" and "others most responsible" for atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, in December 2008 the Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed an effort by the international co-prosecutor to add six more suspects to the tribunal's caseload. The Cambodian co-prosecutor cited Cambodia's "past instability" and the "need for national reconciliation" as reasons for rejecting bringing charges against additional suspects.
"By allowing political considerations to block additional indictments, the Khmer Rouge tribunal is failing the most basic test of its independence and its credibility," said Colm. "The tribunal cannot bring justice to the millions of the Khmer Rouge's victims if it tries only a handful of the most notorious individuals, while scores of former Khmer Rouge officials and commanders remain free."
Human Rights Watch said that the United Nations and the international community, which is shouldering most of the US$50 million expended by the tribunal to date, should not bestow legitimacy to a process that does not meet international fair trial standards. Rather than pledging more funds to a flawed process with no strings attached, influential donors such as Japan, the United States, France, and Australia should insist that allegations about corruption and government interference are first resolved, Human Rights Watch said.
In a January 14 statement, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, a coalition of 21 Cambodian human rights organizations, called for the Khmer Rouge tribunal not to arbitrarily limit itself to five prosecutions, saying:
"Without further prosecutions, the ECCC will fail to deliver justice to the people of Cambodia and damage efforts to create genuine reconciliation. We fear that the efforts and achievement of the Cambodian government and people, and the international community in creating the ECCC will be squandered if the court is seen to only partially fulfill its mission. ... We urge all stakeholders in the ECCC process, including the Royal Cambodian Government and the international community, to ensure that the court is able to act independently and free of political interference or consideration, and give it full support as it acts to fulfill its mission."
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Cambodia finally plans trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders
Ney Thol, an army general and senior member of Hun Sen's party, he has drawn criticism from human rights groups for his rulings against Hun Sen's chief political rivals
Chea Leang recently argued that putting more than five figures on trial could endanger national stability. She is also the niece of Sok An, Hun Sen's deputy prime minister (Photo: AFP)
In this file photo, a Cambodian Buddhist monk looks at the torture chambers in Tuol Sleng prison which is now a museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A UN-backed tribunal announced recently it would put the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders before a panel of Cambodian and international judges on Feb. 17 on charges of crimes against humanity. The trials of the other four, all old and ailing, are unlikely to begin until 2010.Thursday February 12th, 2009
By DENIS D. GRAY The Associated Press
KOMPONG SPEU, Cambodia - Im Savoeun remembers how they clung to each other for the last time, sobbing, as life drained from her husband after a savage beating by the Khmer Rouge. The starving man's crime was stealing a potato.
"I could not help him. There was no medicine. The only thing I could give him were my tears," says the 64-year-old woman, who like countless Cambodians, has spent half a lifetime grieving and waiting for justice.
In 2009, after years of political sabotage, judicial bickering, corruption allegations and funding shortages, the Khmer Rouge is likely to begin facing retribution for the crimes of its 1970s reign of terror.
A UN-backed tribunal announced it would put the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders before a panel of Cambodian and international judges Feb. 17 on charges of crimes against humanity. The trials of the other four, all old and ailing, are unlikely to begin until 2010.
Stepping first into the 504-seat courtroom will be 65-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture centre. The others are Khieu Samphan, the group's former head of state; Ieng Sary, its foreign minister; his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs; and Nuon Chea, the movement's chief ideologue. They face a maximum of life imprisonment.
The trials will place Cambodia among a half-dozen countries that have been caught up in international criminal trials for crimes against humanity in the past 15 years. But the Cambodian process has had a particularly stormy history, and it faces skepticism about its fairness and scope, and suspicions that some pretext or other will halt it altogether.
"Even if we condemn five or 10 at the tribunal, there will be no balance because they killed millions," says Im Savoeun, who lost four other family members. "My husband and son can never come back to me, but at least they will have received some justice."
Inflamed by an ultra-communist vision, the Khmer Rouge sought to eradicate traditional Cambodian society and begin again from "year zero." They turned the country into a vast slave labour camp, abolishing all freedoms. At least 1.7 million, some say more than two million, died of starvation, disease and executions during this primitive experiment in human engineering.
Despite the scale of atrocities, the Cambodian side at the tribunal, called the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, has sought to strictly limit the court's reach. It recently refused a proposal by Robert Petit, the Canadian international co-prosecutor, to cast the net wider and try up to five more former Khmer Rouge figures.
Even this would not satisfy many critics and victims.
"You can't have two million people dead, try five or 10 cases and call it a day. That may be all they do, but we are not going to say that justice was done no matter how well that process goes," says Brad Adams of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"The reason we want more than 10 is because there are dozens of people with thousands of deaths on their hands running around out there still. They deserve their day in court."
But Prime Minister Hun Sen's government is full of former Khmer Rouge higher-ups, himself included, and has little to gain from the trials. In 1998, he declared that Cambodians "should dig a hole and bury the past."
"There is fear among the Cambodian government. The former Khmer Rouge are asking: 'Who is next?'" says Youk Chhang, who heads The Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which has collected some one million documents related to the Khmer Rouge terror.
Adams, an American who has monitored the court's progress since it was proposed 13 years ago, said, "There has been political interference that intentionally slowed the whole process down just to basically play out the clock on the possibility that some defendants would die."
He and others allege that Cambodian judges have received instructions from the Ministry of Interior on how to act. One judge, Ney Thol, has been particularly singled out. An army general and senior member of Hun Sen's party, he has drawn criticism from human rights groups for his rulings against Hun Sen's chief political rivals.
In an open admission that the trial has more to do with internal politics than standards of international justice, Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang recently argued that putting more than five figures on trial could endanger national stability.
While Japan's contribution this month of $21 million has at least temporarily allayed fears the court might run out of funding, an investigation into alleged corruption - including the buying of positions on the court - has still to be concluded.
Lawyers for Nuon Chea, the ideologue, say the alleged corruption "could undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial."
Petit isn't giving up. "There is still a fair chance that the tribunal will realize a limited measure of justice. It will help set the historical record once and for all and will help people understand and believe what happened here," he said in an interview.
Despite their long wait, nationwide surveys show that more than 80 per cent of Cambodians back the trials.
Those victims who had tried to put the horror behind them began reliving it when the prospect of trials arose, and to abort the process would cause huge frustration, says Pung Chhiv Kek, a human rights campaigner.
"I could not help him. There was no medicine. The only thing I could give him were my tears," says the 64-year-old woman, who like countless Cambodians, has spent half a lifetime grieving and waiting for justice.
In 2009, after years of political sabotage, judicial bickering, corruption allegations and funding shortages, the Khmer Rouge is likely to begin facing retribution for the crimes of its 1970s reign of terror.
A UN-backed tribunal announced it would put the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders before a panel of Cambodian and international judges Feb. 17 on charges of crimes against humanity. The trials of the other four, all old and ailing, are unlikely to begin until 2010.
Stepping first into the 504-seat courtroom will be 65-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture centre. The others are Khieu Samphan, the group's former head of state; Ieng Sary, its foreign minister; his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs; and Nuon Chea, the movement's chief ideologue. They face a maximum of life imprisonment.
The trials will place Cambodia among a half-dozen countries that have been caught up in international criminal trials for crimes against humanity in the past 15 years. But the Cambodian process has had a particularly stormy history, and it faces skepticism about its fairness and scope, and suspicions that some pretext or other will halt it altogether.
"Even if we condemn five or 10 at the tribunal, there will be no balance because they killed millions," says Im Savoeun, who lost four other family members. "My husband and son can never come back to me, but at least they will have received some justice."
Inflamed by an ultra-communist vision, the Khmer Rouge sought to eradicate traditional Cambodian society and begin again from "year zero." They turned the country into a vast slave labour camp, abolishing all freedoms. At least 1.7 million, some say more than two million, died of starvation, disease and executions during this primitive experiment in human engineering.
Despite the scale of atrocities, the Cambodian side at the tribunal, called the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, has sought to strictly limit the court's reach. It recently refused a proposal by Robert Petit, the Canadian international co-prosecutor, to cast the net wider and try up to five more former Khmer Rouge figures.
Even this would not satisfy many critics and victims.
"You can't have two million people dead, try five or 10 cases and call it a day. That may be all they do, but we are not going to say that justice was done no matter how well that process goes," says Brad Adams of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"The reason we want more than 10 is because there are dozens of people with thousands of deaths on their hands running around out there still. They deserve their day in court."
But Prime Minister Hun Sen's government is full of former Khmer Rouge higher-ups, himself included, and has little to gain from the trials. In 1998, he declared that Cambodians "should dig a hole and bury the past."
"There is fear among the Cambodian government. The former Khmer Rouge are asking: 'Who is next?'" says Youk Chhang, who heads The Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which has collected some one million documents related to the Khmer Rouge terror.
Adams, an American who has monitored the court's progress since it was proposed 13 years ago, said, "There has been political interference that intentionally slowed the whole process down just to basically play out the clock on the possibility that some defendants would die."
He and others allege that Cambodian judges have received instructions from the Ministry of Interior on how to act. One judge, Ney Thol, has been particularly singled out. An army general and senior member of Hun Sen's party, he has drawn criticism from human rights groups for his rulings against Hun Sen's chief political rivals.
In an open admission that the trial has more to do with internal politics than standards of international justice, Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang recently argued that putting more than five figures on trial could endanger national stability.
While Japan's contribution this month of $21 million has at least temporarily allayed fears the court might run out of funding, an investigation into alleged corruption - including the buying of positions on the court - has still to be concluded.
Lawyers for Nuon Chea, the ideologue, say the alleged corruption "could undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial."
Petit isn't giving up. "There is still a fair chance that the tribunal will realize a limited measure of justice. It will help set the historical record once and for all and will help people understand and believe what happened here," he said in an interview.
Despite their long wait, nationwide surveys show that more than 80 per cent of Cambodians back the trials.
Those victims who had tried to put the horror behind them began reliving it when the prospect of trials arose, and to abort the process would cause huge frustration, says Pung Chhiv Kek, a human rights campaigner.
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