Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary defence claims ‘subterfuge’

Nuon Chea, aka Brother No 2, attends a hearing at the ECCC last year. Photograph: Reuters

Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Stuart White
The Phnom Penh Post

Witness Ton Rochoem, alias Phy Phuon, continued to be a source of controversy at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, with defence teams for both co-accused Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary calling on the court to address issues with the former Khmer Rouge administrator’s testimony.

In an addendum to a previous filing calling for summary action against Minister for Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong for interference in the tribunal’s work, Nuon Chea’s defence drew a timeline linking the testimony of Phuon that Namhong was in charge of the Boeung Trabek detention facility, to Namhong’s statement to the press the next day refuting the testimony and to Phuon’s subsequent retraction of his remarks to local media.

“[Namhong’s] statement appears to have efficiently and effectively achieved one of its intended results,” the filing read, going on to argue that the court should take “summary action” against Namhong for comments amounting to governmental interference in the court.

Nuon Chea defence counsel Andrew Ianuzzi said that at a minimum the court should issue a statement condemning Namhong’s actions.

Ieng Sary’s defense alludes to the possibility of the ECCC’s disappearance

Michael Karnavas, Ieng Sary's defense lawyer (Photo: AN, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

02 April 2009
By A.L.G.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

Ang Udom and Michael Karnavas, co-defense lawyers for the ex-KR Foreign Affairs minister, used Hun Sen’s claim made on 31 March and the alleged tribunal corruption to contest the provisional detention of their client.

On Thursday 02 April, Ieng Sary’s defense lawyers talked about a possible disappearance of the ECCC during the appeal hearing against the extension of the provisional detention of their client.

“Two days ago, PM Hun Sen indicated that he was deceived that Japan gave $200,000 to pay the salary of the Cambodian side of the Tribunal,” Michael Karnavas said. “Now, donor countries are hesitating to finance [the ECCC].”

“Everything is tied,” the US lawyer added. “With the budget crisis and the alleged corruption, will we be here in six months? Must they continue to detain Mr. Ieng Sary, knowing that the prosecution will not be able to follow suit?”

Pursuing his argument while asking for an investigation on the tribunal corruption, Michael Karnavas was interrupted by Anees Ahmed, the Indian co-prosecutor, who noted that the word “corruption” does not appear in on the 19-page appeal memo, therefore, the defense cannot raise this argument.

The judges asked the defense to continue and to evoke only medical reasons to justify Ieng Sary’s house arrest, Michael Karnavas preferred letting the co-prosecutor speak.

During the previous hearings, Victor Koppe and Michiel Pestman, Nuon Chea’s international lawyers, had also raised the KRT corruption issue, indicating that such allegations would compromise their client’s right to a fair trial.

KRouge defence removes documents from website

Thursday, March 05, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Lawyers for a former Khmer Rouge leader removed documents from their website Thursday after officials at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court warned the material was confidential.

Investigating judges told the defence team of former foreign minister Ieng Sary on Tuesday it would "face sanctions" unless all documents relating to judicial investigations were taken down from its website within 48 hours.

Ieng Sary, 83, is one of five leaders from the late 1970s regime charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, but details of the investigation ahead of his trial are kept confidential.

Defence lawyers posted a statement on the website saying they regretted having to remove an appeal for a psychiatric evaluation of Ieng Sary as well as two filings about potential conflicts in his investigation.

"The Ieng Sary defence will not shy away from making a small but important contribution to public and transparent judicial proceedings at the (Khmer Rouge court): something which has not to date been the case," the statement said.

"Nor will we give in to attempts, deliberate or inadvertent, to limit our right to speak out publicly to protect our client's interests," it added.

The statement signed by lawyers Ang Udom and Michael Karnavas also said the defence team would file a response to the order's "flawed legal reasoning".

An earlier letter by the defence team on the site said none of the documents posted online should be considered confidential.

It went on to allege that judges suppress filings "which may be embarrassing or which call into question the legitimacy and judiciousness of acts and decisions".

Ieng Sary has been rushed to hospital nine times since he was detained by the court in November 2007, and last week had an appeal for release from the Khmer Rouge court delayed after he said he was too ill to appear in court.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the 1975-1979 regime emptied Cambodia's cities in its drive to create a communist utopia.

The long-awaited first Khmer Rouge trial started last month when the regime's notorious prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, went before the court.

Judges Threaten Sanctions of Tribunal Defense Team

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 March 2009

The defense team for jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary agreed to temporarily withdraw information from a Web site Wednesday, following orders from tribunal judges over concerns of confidentiality.

Ang Udom, Cambodian defense for Ieng Sary, said the team had decided to remove the content in order to retain good relations with the court.

“Most of what [the judges] raised is incorrect,” he said. “We posted only what was related to legal procedure, that which we expect the public should know, understand and hear and that [the judges] hide.”

In a statement posted on their Web site Wednesday, the defense lawyers strongly disagreed with a court order to remove information posted on the site and said they planned to issue a public response to the “flawed legal reasoning” of the Office of Co-Investigating Judges.

The “confidential” documents sited by the investigating judges are, “in fact, public,” the lawyers said.

Tuesday’s order called for the removal of three documents from the site, the lawyers said: the appeal against the tribunal’s refusal to appoint a psychiatrist to Ieng Sary and requests for information about two international staff members of the court.

In a letter to the defense, investigating judges Marcel Lemonde and You Bunleng ordered the removal of the documents within 48 hours, threatening legal consequences if the order was not followed.

Ieng Sary, 84, whose health is the poorest among five jailed leaders, faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role as foreign minister of and senior leader of the regime.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said his defense team had posted documents that were already banned by investigating judges.

Cambodia: Genocide Court Censures Defense Lawyers

2009-03-04
AP

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: Fresh controversy broke out Tuesday (3 March) at Cambodia's genocide tribunal when judges censured two defense lawyers for posting what they said were confidential court documents on a Web site.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal said the lawyers posted the documents - legal requests and appeals to the court - on a legal Web site for their Khmer Rouge client despite repeated warnings not to.

The tribunal is seeking to establish responsibility for an estimated 1.7 million deaths during the brutal 1975-79 rule of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge.

Lawyers Michael Karnavas of the U.S. and Ang Udom of Cambodia were accused of breaching court rules "by revealing confidential information," and "failing to act in accordance with the standards and ethics of the legal profession," according to a court order.

The tribunal demanded the lawyers remove the documents within 48 hours and said its six-page order would be sent to bar associations to which the lawyers belong for "any appropriate action."

Karnavas, who with his partner represents former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, denied doing anything wrong in an e-mailed statement, but said they would remove the documents "until such time as this matter is sorted out."

"We have no intention to compromise or interfere with the investigation," Karnavas said. "We will however continue to press for a more accountable, responsive and transparent process."

The tribunal has been beset by controversy, mostly involving allegations of corruption and political interference.

The first trial, scheduled to begin 30 March, is for 65-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture center. It starts nearly three years after the court was established.

Khmer Rouge lawyers threatened with sanctions over website posts

Tue, 03 Mar 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Judges at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal on Tuesday said lawyers of a former Khmer Rouge leader faced "sanctions for a new offence" unless they removed confidential court documents from a website. A statement released by the court said judges had told lawyers for former head-of-state Ieng Sary that they must remove all legal documents from the website, other than those available on the tribunal's own website.

Lawyers were ordered to remove confidential documents already on the independent website within 48 hours, or else they will "force sanctions for a new offence," the statement said.

Ieng Sary, 83, is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders facing trial for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the ultra-Maoist group's 1975-1979 reign.

His lawyers have previously stated that judges' refusal to make a range of legal documents public has undermined the court's transparency.

Cambodia KRouge defence warned over website

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The defence team of a Khmer Rouge leader has been ordered to remove confidential documents from Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court from a website, the tribunal's investigating judges said Tuesday.

Lawyers for former foreign minister Ieng Sary "face sanctions" if they do not remove all documents relating to judicial investigations within 48 hours, the court's co-investigating judges said in a press statement.

Ieng Sary, 83, is one of five leaders from the late 1970s regime charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, but details of the investigation ahead of his trial are kept confidential.

Investigating judges said they needed "to guarantee the protection of privacy of those persons mentioned in the case file and the presumption of innocence, as well as to promote efficiency in investigations."

But the website containing defence filings and letters has also posted a letter to court officials saying that no documents on the site relate to the current investigation of Ieng Sary.

The letter by defence lawyers Michael Karnavas and Ang Udom goes on to allege that judges suppress filings "which may be embarrassing or which call into question the legitimacy and judiciousness of acts and decisions."

Ieng Sary has been rushed to hospital nine times since he was detained by the court in November 2007, and last week had an appeal for release from the Khmer Rouge court delayed after he said he was too ill to appear in court.

As the top Khmer Rouge diplomat, Ieng Sary was frequently the only point of contact between Cambodia's secretive communist rulers and the outside world.

He has denied any involvement in atrocities but he was one of the biggest public supporters of the regime's mass purges, researchers say.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the 1975-1979 regime emptied Cambodia's cities in its drive to create a communist utopia.

The long-awaited first Khmer Rouge trial started last month when the regime's notorious prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, went before the court.