Closing Order of Case 002 against Senior KR Leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith

In light of the HISTORIC (!) Start of MOST COMPLEX (sic!) trial hearings beginning on   27 June 2011 and again ANOTHER HISTORIC (!) START of this same MOST COMPLEX (sic!) on 21 Nov. 2011 of Case 002 against the surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, KI Media is posting installations of the public document of the   Closing Order of Case 002 (Indictment). The Closing Order of the Co-Investigating Judges forms the basic document   from which all the parties (Co-Prosecutors, Co-Lead Lawyers for all civil parties, Defense Lawyers) will be making their arguments before the Trial Chamber judges (one Cambodian President, 2 Cambodian Judges, 2 UN judges). Up until now, the hearings involving these four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been in the Pre-Trial Chamber over issues of pre-trial detention and jurisdictional issues. Beginning in June November 2011, the Trial Chamber will hear the   substantive (sic!) arguments over the criminal charges   (Genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956, etc., Only the Phase I Movement in April 1975). Available in Khmer, English and French. Contact the ECCC for a free copy.  

 

CLOSING ORDER

of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde

15 September 2010

 

IX. ROLES OF THE CHARGED PERSONS

C. KHIEU SAMPHAN⁴⁶¹⁶

 ^{Roles and Functions}

President of the State Presidium

1111.       At the first session of the Cambodian People's Representatives Assembly, held between 11 and 13 April 1976, Khieu Samphan was appointed as the President of the State Presidium.⁴⁶⁵² In this role, he took over from Norodom Sihanouk as the Head of State.⁴⁶⁵³

1112.       Chapter 8, Article 11 of the DK Constitution states that "the State Presidium is responsible for representing the State of Democratic Kampuchea inside and outside the country" ⁴⁶⁵⁴ Khieu Samphan stated "with regard to chapter 8 on the State Presidium, the decision to create this body is for the purpose of implementing the principle of collectivism in all fields".⁴⁶⁵⁵ However, Khieu Samphan has repeatedly declared that his role as President of the State Presidium was merely honorific and symbolic and that he had no de facto power.⁴⁶⁵⁶

Several witnesses have stated that they believed that Khieu Samphan was not a powerful figure in the CPK regime.⁴⁶⁵⁷

1137. Khieu Samphan has further declared that his work was only to make speeches, receive letters of accredition from international ambassadors and participate in and preside over receptions for various Heads of State.⁴⁶⁵⁸ Even in this limited role, one of Khieu Samphan's primary responsibilities appears to have been promoting policies of the CPK internationally. He sent⁴⁶⁵⁹ and received⁴⁶⁶⁰ many communications and credentials from various world leaders and ambassadors. He travelled to various countries as a representative of the DK, such as China,⁴⁶⁶¹ Sri Lanka,⁴⁶⁶² the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,⁴⁶⁶³ Yugoslavia,⁴⁶⁶⁴ Romania.⁴⁶⁶⁵ He also made a speech at the Fifth Summit Conference of Non-aligned Countries in Colombo in 197 6⁴⁶⁶⁶ (although he states that Ieng Sary wrote this speech for him).⁴⁶⁶⁷ He received many foreign delegations and ambassadors in Cambodia,⁴⁶⁶⁸ sometimes taking them on tours around Cambodia⁴⁶⁶⁹ and informing the delegations about the country's reconstruction, cooperatives and agricultural revolution.⁴⁶⁷⁰

1138. Khieu Samphan also conducted the following activities in his capacity as President of the State Presidium: promulgating a regulation setting out the functioning of the People's Representative Assembly of Kampuchea and the Standing Committee of the People's Representative Assembly of Kampuchea;⁴⁶⁷¹ and being sent communications by telegram about the living conditions, arrests and detentions in Preah Vihear Province.⁴⁶⁷²