Defence team for Nuon Chea summoned at the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh

22-01-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set in English

On January 9th, the lawyers for former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea submitted a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with a view to have an investigation opened on graft allegations concerning Cambodian staff within the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). They received summons from the Municipal Court Prosecutor for Thursday January 22nd , to shed some light on the case. The Defence Team would like to see their complaint taken before a court as they estimate that institutionalised corruption within the ECCC could undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial for their client.

Andrew Ianuzzi of the Defence Team for Nuon Chea spent nearly two hours discussing the matter with Prosecutor Ouk Savuth, who asked him several factual questions, the content of which the lawyer did not wish to reveal. “The Prosecutor seemed well-prepared to me, and although I did not go there fully-optimistic, he proved professional”, the lawyer commented, after his formal meeting with the Prosecutor. He turned up after receiving the summons from the court, flanked by security officers of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), who asked him to accompany him. “They were here but I don't know why”, the lawyer said.

Andrew Ianuzzi expressed his major and “obvious” concern, namely that Yet Chakrya, deputy co-prosecutor at the ECCC, might have been recently appointed, on top of his function within the Khmer Rouge court, Prosecutor... at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. “We fear a potential conflict of interests and a lack of partiality [if he is to deal with our complaint]”, the lawyer explained. His appointment is not said to be effective yet, and Andrew Ianuzzi suggested it could either be postponed until after the investigation regarding the complaint is over, or the examination of the lawsuit could remain under the authority of the current Prosecutor. The latter took heed of the lawyer's suggestions and said he would propose them, the lawyer reported.

After having knocked on many doors to obtain a copy of the report on the results of the United Nations investigation concerning allegations of corruption within the ECCC, the only solution for the Defence Team for Nuon Chea was to refer the matter to somebody who would have authority to ask for such a document. And it was the Municipal Court, Andrew Ianuzzi explains. The lawyer naturally gave his recommendation to the Prosecutor to request a copy of the report...

Probe 'will not interrupt KRT'

Toul Sleng prison chief Duch at the Extrodinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on Friday. (Photo by: AFP)

Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Written by Georgia Wilkins
The Phnom Penh Post

Criminal investigation into corruption at Khmer Rouge tribunal will not interrupt Duch's trial, Municipal Court prosecutors say, despite legal overlap.

PROSECUTORS at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court claim that a criminal investigation into corruption at the Khmer Rouge tribunal will not interrupt the first trial at the court, that of Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, which is scheduled to begin in the middle of proposed investigations with judges and administrative staff.

Sok Kaliyan, deputy prosecutor at the Municipal Court, told the Post Tuesday that he expected investigations, which had already begun, to take a maximum of two months, after which a verdict could be given.

Despite the initial hearing for the torture chief's trial scheduled for February 17, Sok Kaliyan was confident investigations would not interrupt the highly anticipated first trial.

"They are different things," he said.
International defence lawyers for former Khmer Rouge Brother No 2 Nuon Chea filed a criminal complaint to the civil court Friday, claiming Sean Visoth, the government's top official to the Khmer Rouge tribunal, as well as the court's former chief of personnel, Keo Thyvuth, violated criminal law by "perpetrating, facilitating, aiding and/or abetting an organised regime of institutional corruption at the ECCC during the pending judicial investigation".

The complaint also accused judges of misdemeanours, prompting Cambodian judges to make a statement denying the allegations.

Foreign lawyer summoned
Sok Kaliyan confirmed that one of the foreign legal adviser for Nuon Chea, consultant Andrew Ianuzzi, had already been summoned to the court and would appear on Thursday to be interviewed.

He said summoning the complainants was the first step in the inquiry, after which he would decide who else to summons.

"The complaint is divided into two parts - the first part relates to people working in the head of administration and the second relates to judges - so after I interview the complainants, I will decide who to interview from these [sections of the court]," he said.

Ianuzzi said Tuesday he was ready to be summoned to the court.

"We are looking forward to helping the court," he said.

KRT judges threaten lawsuit [to silence their critics]

Sean Visoth, head of administration at Cambodia’s Extraordinary Chambers, is the subject of a new complaint by defence lawyers acting for Nuon Chea. He is show here in a file photo. (Photo: AFP)

Monday, 12 January 2009
Written by Cat Barton
The Phnom Penh Post

"....the Cambodian judiciary has used the threat of defamation in the past."

Claiming a recent complaint by foreign lawyers acting for Nuon Chea unfairly smears them, Cambodian ECCC judges say they reserve the right to sue

FOREIGN lawyers for Nuon Chea accused Cambodian judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal Sunday of using intimidation tactics, including the threat to sue, to try to block a criminal investigation into corruption allegations at the UN-backed court.

Angered over a complaint filed last week in the Municipal Court by Nuon Chea's defence team urging a probe into two of Cambodia's top tribunal administrators, the judges said that they were being unfairly smeared by the lawyers and would "reserve the right to legal recourse against any individuals who have provoked such a problem".

The lawyers' decision to go public with their complaint "caused confusion and seriously affected the honour and dignity of all individual judges and [the ECCC] as a whole", the judges said in a statement Friday.

But lawyers for the regime's former Brother No 2 have dismissed the judges' objections, saying they would be happy to defend themselves against any defamation claims.

"It is no secret that the Cambodian judiciary has used the threat of defamation in the past to silence its critics," said Andrew Ianuzzi, a co-lawyer for Nuon Chea, adding that "any ECCC official with clean hands would welcome, rather than regret, the effort to uncover the corruption".

"We'll be happy to defend ourselves against any political charges they [the judges] may concoct," he told the Post.

Municipal Court Chief Judge Chev Keng on Friday accepted the lawyers' complaint, opening the way for an investigation into Sean Visoth, Cambodia's top tribunal administrator, and former chief of personnel Keo Thyvuth over accusations that Cambodian court employees have been forced to kick back portions of their salaries to their bosses.

The graft complaints have already gone before the UN, but the results of a review by the world body into the allegations have never been made public.

The move into Municipal Court could provide one of the most serious legal challenges to date for the tribunal, whose credibility has been battered by repeated allegations of misconduct stemming from mismanagement of the graft claims at the heart of this most recent complaint.

"We're just trying to get to the bottom of this," Ianuzzi said.

"If the ECCC wants to do this, fantastic, but it seems to us that the ECCC has little, if any, interest in getting to the bottom of it - so we'll see how far the national courts are prepared to go."

But his Cambodian counterpart, Son Arun, has so far declined to sign off on the complaint, saying there was no need to take the team's complaint outside of the tribunal's jurisdiction.

"This is strictly only the foreign legal team," Son Arun told the Post Sunday.

"Before, I signed the letter requesting [corruption information] from [Sean] Visoth, but I wanted to keep the complaint within the ECCC, which is why I am not involved now."

Complaint about corruption allegations at the ECCC: Cambodian judges offended

10-01-2009
Ka-set in English
Click here to read the article in French
Click here to read the article in Khmer

In a communiqué released on Friday January 9th, Cambodian judges at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), in charge of trying former Khmer Rouge leaders, reacted strongly against the complaint submitted to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court by Nuon Chea's co-lawyers regarding allegations of corruption within the ECCC.

National judges working at the hybrid court, composed of Cambodian and foreign magistrates, say they “deeply regret hearing the new reports today that co-lawyers Mr. Michiel PESTMAN and Mr. Victor KOPPE and Mr. Andrew IANUZZI have filed a complaint with the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh charging corruption within the ECCC, which states that this may infringe the fundamental right to fair trial and that a portion of national judges' salaries are used as kickbacks to government officials”.

Cambodian judges particularly reproached the lawyers for having leaked their action to “the public media”, “causing confusion and seriously affecting the honour and dignity of all individual judges and this institution as a whole”.

In the same release, they go back on the fact that all judges at the ECCC “entered into service by decision of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, chaired by His Majesty the King of the Cambodia”, who signed a Royal Decree appointing them to work in the court.

“Therefore”, the Cambodian judges argue, “there is no reason for judges to cut their salaries to pay kickbacks to government officials, as alleged. We absolutely reject such an accusation.”

Finally, the national ECCC judges state that if the accusation “stems from bad faith in putting the blame on the judges”, they reserve the right “to legal recourse against any individuals who have provoked such a problem”.

The complaint lodged by the Defence Team for former Khmer Rouge Nuon Chea on January 8th was officially registered at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court the morning after it was submitted. It is now up to the Municipal Court to decide whether an investigation on allegations of corruption concerning ECCC Cambodian staff needs to be launched or not.

Top Cambodian KRouge trial officials to be investigated for graft [-Will it be a real investigation or just a show-investigation?]

Sean Visoth, Director of the Khmer Rouge tribunal's Office of Aministration

Saturday, January 10, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A Phnom Penh court will hear a corruption complaint against top officials at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal, a judge told AFP Friday.

Chief judge of Phnom Penh Municipal Court Chev Keng said he would accept the complaint against Sean Visoth, the top government official at the court, and Keo Thyvuth, its former chief of personnel, lodged Thursday by defence lawyers.

The lawyers allege the pair have received kickbacks from court workers, but on Friday the tribunal's Cambodian judges released a statement denying any involvement.

The judges added the complaint "was causing confusion and seriously affecting the honour and dignity of all individual judges and this (Khmer Rouge tribunal) institution as a whole."

Thursday's complaint was lodged by international lawyers for Khmer Rouge "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, one of five former leaders due to stand trial.

They said the failure to address corruption allegations undermined Nuon Chea's right to a fair trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Last year the UN launched an investigation into allegations that Cambodian workers had been forced to pay for their jobs, and withheld at least 300,000 dollars in July funding and court salaries.

The investigation's findings were never made public but Keo Thyvuth was later transferred from the court and Sean Visoth put on leave.

The tribunal opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the United Nations and Cambodia.

It is expected to hear its first case within the next few months, against former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav.

Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society during its 1975-1979 rule in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: A Fair Hearing

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Dutch Cambodia trial lawyers claim intimidation

Friday 09 January 2009
Radio Netherlands Worldwide (Holland)

Two Dutch lawyers representing a former Khmer Rouge leader at the war crimes trial in Cambodia say they feel intimidated by the judges in the Cambodia tribunal. The lawyers, Victor Koppe and Michiel Pestman, have told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that the judges are threatening legal action against them because they are attempting to expose corrupt practices at the tribunal.

Mr Koppe and Mr Pestman say judges and other court personnel had to buy their appointments by handing over a significant part of their salaries to government officials. The lawyers raised the matter with the Cambodian government, but no action was taken. They then lodged a complaint with a Phnom Penh court. However the judges have threatened to counter with their own legal action, saying the lawyers' complaint was damaging the reputation of the war crimes tribunal.

The two lawyers are representing "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders due to stand trial.

Tribunal Judges Lash Out at Defense

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 January 2009

Cambodian judges lashed out at defense attorneys for jailed Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea Friday, claiming a suit they filed in Phnom Penh Municipal Court against alleged corruption in the courts damaged their honor and dignity.

“We would like to state that all the judges of this Court entered into service by decision of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, chaired by His Majesty the King of Cambodia,” Cambodian judges for the Khmer Rouge tribunal said in a statement. “We absolutely reject such an allegation.”

The judges reserved the “right to legal recourse against any individuals” provoking problems related to “bad faith” or putting the “blame” on them.

“I am surprised that they seem to see me and my colleagues as the problem and not the corruption itself,” lead defense attorney Michiel Pestman told VOA Khmer Friday. “They seem to be shooting the messenger.”

Pestman said he considered the letter a threat for legal action and was not used to such threats from judges.

“That will certainly impact on my work [and] that will make it even more difficult to have a fair trial,” he said.

Cambodian genocide judges reject corruption claims

Friday, January 09, 2009
By SOPHENG CHEANG

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian judges denied Friday that they paid kickbacks to government officials to secure jobs on a genocide tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

The judges were responding to a complaint filed by lawyers for Nuon Chea, one of five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders due to be tried by the U.N.-backed tribunal for crimes against humanity and other offenses.

The dispute could further delay the tribunal's much-postponed first trial, which was slated to begin early this year. The tribunal is tasked with seeking justice for the atrocities committed by the ultra-communist regime, whose radical policies caused an estimated 1.7 million deaths during its four years in power in the 1970s.

Many Cambodians are frustrated that the Khmer Rouge leaders have still not been tried three decades after the regime fell in 1979, and fear the aging and infirm defendants could die before they face justice. Cambodian politics and disagreements between the government and the U.N. delayed the establishment of the tribunal for years. Disputes over procedure — and allegations of corruption — have further held up its launch.

The lawyers' complaint filed in a Phnom Penh court on Thursday alleged the judges were paying a portion of their salaries to the government officials who had awarded them their prestigious tribunal jobs. The alleged corruption "could undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial," the complaint said.

The judges denied they had made any illegal payments and said they would sue their accusers.

"We absolutely reject such an accusation ... (and) we reserve the right to legal recourse against any individuals," they said in a Friday statement.

Nuon Chea, 81, was the chief ideologist for the Khmer Rouge. The others detained for trial are: former head of state Khieu Samphan; ex-Foreign Minister Ieng Sary; his wife Ieng Thirith, who served as the Khmer Rouge social affairs minister; and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the former S-21 prison, the Khmer Rouge's largest torture facility.

Corruption allegations at the ECCC: a Defence Team refers the matter to the Municipal Court

Phnom Penh (Cambodia), 08/01/2009. Michiel Pestman, Defence Lawyer at the ECCC. (Photo: Vandy Rattana)

08-01-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set in English
Click here to read the article in French
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The Defence Team for Nuon Chea, considered to be the ideologist of the Khmer Rouge regime and charged by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), tried to submit a criminal complaint on Thursday January 8th to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Its goal? Having the legal body examine the allegations of corruption which appeared within the Khmer Rouge Tribunal but have not been concretely followed up yet. This approach is a never before seen and stands out among other examples of international criminal courts which, unlike the ECCC, are placed entirely under the responsibility of the United Nations.

Nuon Chea's Defence Team explained they were “victims of violations of the 1992 UNTAC Criminal Code and/or analogous provisions contained in any other applicable Cambodian penal code”. More precisely, the complainants, who claim to be acting on their own behalf and not on behalf of their client, “alleged that institutional corruption at the ECCC could undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial”. “The allegations are very serious... We are seriously worried about the legitimacy of the Court.”

A legitimate complaint?
After two unsuccessful attempts made on Thursday, Nuon Chea's lawyers were eventually granted an appointment the next morning with Ouk Savuth, Royal Prosecutor at the Municipal Court. Their complaint, said to be “special”, required to be “submitted to a superior first” and is now under the responsibility of the Court but as a consequence could not be formally registered.

Is the complaint admissible? Michiel Pestman, the Dutch co-lawyer for Nuon Chea, is certain about it. “The Prosecutor is obliged to register a complaint, as the law prescribes! It must be accepted by the ECCC which refer to the Cambodian penal code. Then, the Prosecutor has two months to decide what he wants to do with the complaint.” Even if the United Nations open an internal investigation, he adds, the ECCC do not have jurisdiction over the investigation of corruption allegations. Besides, Michiel Pestman observes, “the Cambodian government has received a copy of the UN report – which put forward strong suspicion regarding a few people – and must act. But up until now, nothing has happened... There is an apparent refusal on the part of the government to take this seriously! [...] The Cambodian government failed to investigate those cases, now it is up to the judiciary. People who are paying kickbacks cannot be independent and if there are many people doing that within the ECCC [on the national side of staff], this affects the functioning of the court.” The lawyer nonetheless acknowledged that these are just speculations, since he was not able to obtain a copy of the UN investigation report, despite repeatedly requesting for it.

Facts in brief
In February 2007, the organisation Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) made waves when it publicised allegations according to which "Cambodian court personnel, including judges, must kick back a significant percentage of their wages to Cambodian government officials in exchange for their positions on the court". Four months later, as detailed in the complaint, "the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released a similarly damning report".

As a result, the European Commission called for an independent review of the ECCC in October 2007, and the UNDP set up a team of foreign consultants to review the court's hiring practices.

In June 2008, the allegations of corruption involving “payroll embezzlement” resurfaced and were denounced in complaints forwarded to the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (UNOIOS), a measure which resulted in the freezing of funding to the tribunal's Cambodian side.

Stuck in a standoff, deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who also chairs the Task Force for the Khmer Rouge trials appointed by the Cambodian government, requested that the Cambodian authorities be the only ones to deal with that particular case. After the sudden departure of Cambodian ECCC Chief of Personnel Keo Thyvuth, Sok An announced the establishment of a new anti-corruption committee to investigate any graft allegations raised by staff. The results of the UN investigation were turned over to Cambodian authorities in September 2008 and since then, nothing...

In a communiqué released on September 19th, the office of the Cambodian Council of Ministers tried to be reassuring and pointed out that Sok An had on many occasions pledged that for any complaint submitted to a competent Cambodian authority, “appropriate action [would] be taken”. On August 29th, the deputy Prime Minister released an administrative Circular formalising a mechanism to address any complaints received.

The Defence team's procedure
Before lodging their complaint at the Office of the Royal Prosecutor of the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Nuon Chea's lawyers knocked on several doors in order to gather information about these allegations of corruption and the results of the UN investigation. They sent requests to the ECCC Office of Administration and to the UNAKRT (United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials) on September 19th, and explained that their aim was to “reassure their client on the fact that the ECCC is capable of delivering the kind of justice which accords with international standards of fairness”.

They also wrote to deputy Prime Minister Sok An on October 31st 2008. In that letter, the lawyers implied that the UNAKRT coordinator and the Cambodian director of the ECCC Administration kept passing the buck. As a matter of fact, they were told by the first one that the United Nations would not oppose disclosing the requested information should the government agree to it, when the second one replied that neither he nor any other Cambodian official in the ECCC was in possession of information related to complaints "that were apparently taken to New York for examination by the United Nations". In the meantime, Michiel Pestman adds, “Sok An has not even replied to us [...] which suggests that corruption might be more widespread than we thought...”

Will the Municipal Court assert its competence on that case? Nuon Chea's lawyers' initiative will nevertheless bring a spotlight on an issue which worries the whole tribunal. “If tomorrow [Friday] the Court refuses to register our complaint and start the investigation, we are going to appeal to the Court of Appeal!”, the lawyer announced. Moreover, if the Court of Appeal itself does not pay him much more attention, Michiel Pestman says he will reconsider whether he wants to “continue working in that system”. The Defence Team seem ready to exhaust all legal and administrative possibilities to make the Khmer Rouge tribunal face its responsibilities.

All is not bleak..?
Helen Jarvis, chief of Public Affairs at the ECCC, said on Thursday January 8th that she did not know about the lawyers' complaint, adding that it pertained to judiciary authorities to choose which appropriate decisions should be made. As for the allegations of corruption, she preferred referring to the December 10th “positive” press release, jointly drafted by the United Nations and deputy Prime Minister Sok An, in which both parties explained they agreed on the need to enhance the tribunal's human resources management, including anti-corruption measures. They also agreed on “setting up joint sessions between the national and international related structures to ensure that the entire administration operates in a transparent, fair and efficient way”. Both parties agreed on the need to act expeditiously and announced that the Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials and the tribunal's Steering Committee would be informed of the results of the joint sessions by the end of January 2009.

Co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde, who was not aware either of Nuon Chea's lawyers' initiative, stressed that judges were “fully determined to not take part in a trial that would be tainted by corruption” and that for the time being, there was no evidence that it is indeed corrupt. “We remain vigilant. This court must be clean and we closely follow anything that is being said on that matter.”