Duch Trial Delayed After Witnesses Identified

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 July 2009

Judges at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal halted proceedings in the trial of prison chief Duch Wednesday, after a clerk began reading documents with witness’ names that were supposed to be concealed.

The atrocity crimes trial for Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, will resume next week, as court officials seek to protect the identities of witnesses that they fear could be compromised if their true identities were known.

Judge Nil Nonn, head of the tribunal’s Trial Chamber, said the names of the witnesses will have to be changed in documents before their testimony is read in court. He postponed proceedings until Aug. 3.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said Wednesday the court “respects the rights of the witnesses who do not want to be named in a public hearing.”

Some witnesses had asked that their identities be disguised, and the court would now “prepare all the records to hide the identities of the witnesses,” he said.

Kong Sam Onn, a lawyer for the defense unit, said witnesses could suffer from pressure outside the court if they are identified, potentially compromising their neutrality.

“The court stopped reading the record because it could affect the safety and security of the witnesses,” he said.

First Khmer Rouge Trial Inches Nearer [... but still remains as elusive as ever]

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 October 2008

Khmer Rouge tribunal officials announced Thursday they would determine a trial date for jailed prison chief Duch in January, setting the firmest date yet for the first trial of five jailed leaders.

In a statement Thursday, tribunal officials said the trial date for Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, will be decided after the Pre-Trial Chamber rules on an indictment appeal by prosecutors on Dec. 5.

Prosecutors appealed a ruling by investigating judges in August, claiming the indictment had not encompassed the full extent of his alleged crimes. A ruling on that appeal will move a trial forward, though no date is certain.

“We cannot expect any date before the Pre-Trial Chamber decides on the appeal,” tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.

However, Long Panhavuth, a program officer for court monitor for the Open Society for Justice Initiative, said he expected a trial for Duch would not start until at least February 2009.

Duch, 65, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, has been detained since May 1999. Four other Khmer Rouge leaders were arrested in 2007.

“Successfully conducting trials of this significance is a complex process, and the Court recognizes that it can be frustrating for the millions who have been waiting for decades to see justice done,” the tribunal said in its statement Thursday. “Nevertheless, each step of the legal process must be followed carefully and conducted in line with the highest standards of justice. This will also ensure the most enduring legacy for the Cambodian Courts.”

The announcement came as three senior-most detained leaders were sent to the hospital for check-ups. Nuon Chea, 82, Khieu Samphan, 76, and Ieng Sary, 82, each were taken to Calmette Hospital for routine visits this week.

First trial of KRouge leader delayed to next year: court

Thursday, October 09, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal said Thursday that the long-awaited first trial of Khmer Rouge cadres would be delayed until next year because of legal hold-ups.

Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders, mostly in their 70s and 80s, remain in detention awaiting trial for their alleged roles in the 1975-79 atrocities.

In August the court formally indicted former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav -- better known as Duch -- making him the first leader to stand trial.

Court officials had hoped that the hearing would start this month, but prosecutors appealed Duch's indictment, saying it failed to go far enough and portray a "full and truthful account" of his crimes.

The court said in a statement that appeals and other necessary legal procedures would delay the trial until next year.

"Successfully conducting trials of this significance is a complex process. The court recognizes that it can be frustrating for the millions who have been waiting for decades to see justice done," the court said.

"Nevertheless, each step of the legal process must be followed carefully and conducted in line with the highest standards of justice," it said.

The court added that a trial management meeting would be convened by mid-January 2009, where a date for the first hearing would be set.

Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork or execution under the the Khmer Rouge, which dismantled modern Cambodian society in its effort to forge a radical agrarian utopia.

Established in 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the UN, the long-stalled tribunal seeks to prosecute crimes committed 30 years ago by senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

First trial of former Khmer Rouge leader delayed, says court

Oct 9, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Legal wrangling will delay until next year the much anticipated trial of the first former Khmer Rouge leader scheduled to face justice before the joint UN-Cambodian court, the court said in a statement Thursday.

Court officials had hoped the trial of the former commandant of the S-21 torture centre where up to 16,000 people were interrogated and taken for execution, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, could have begun within weeks.

But an August appeal by the co-prosecutors against the closing order issued by the co-investigating judges and the legal processes that entailed now made that impossible, the court said.

'Such further filings will require additional time for all parties to respond. All documents must be translated into one or more official (court) languages,' it said in the statement.

It said a date for an initial hearing of the 66-year-old defendant was not now expected to be set until January.

'Successfully conducting trials of this significance is a complex process, and the court recognizes that it can be frustrating for the millions who have been waiting for decades to see justice done,' said the statement.

'Nevertheless, each step of the legal process must be followed carefully, and conducted in line with the highest standards of justice. This will also ensure the most enduring legacy for the Cambodian Courts.'

Five elderly former leaders are currently in custody awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Up to 2 million Cambodians perished during the ultra-Maoists' 1975-79 rule.

The movement's leader, Pol Pot, died at home in 1998. Military commander Ta Mok died in hospital in 2006.

Cambodia's genocide trial delayed until next year

Thursday, October 02, 2008
By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The start of the first trial at Cambodia's genocide tribunal is likely to be delayed until early next year because more time is needed to deal with an appeal for more charges against a Khmer Rouge defendant, officials said Thursday.

The news is likely to fuel further frustration among many Cambodians, who have been waiting for justice for nearly three decades after the Khmer Rouge held power in the late 1970s.

The communist group implemented radical policies considered responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal is attempting to establish accountability for the atrocities committed in 1975-1979, and the first trial had been expected to start last month.

The latest delay was caused by an appeal by prosecutors to have additional charges lodged against Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the former S-21 prison, the Khmer Rouge's largest torture facility.

"The chance to have a trial for Duch could be in 2009, early next year," said Reach Sambath, a tribunal spokesman, but he was also unable to give a specific date.

The tribunal's pretrial chamber set Dec. 5 for a ruling on the prosecutors' appeal, said Helen Jarvis, the tribunal's public affairs chief.

"So there won't be anything before that," she said, also declining to be specific when asked about a possible starting date for a trial. She had previously said the trial for Duch was to open in September.

Youk Chhang — director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group researching Khmer Rouge crimes — was not happy with the delay.

"What a shame. They surely can prolong the trials but not the lives of the defendants, including Duch," he said. "The hopes of the victims remain scattered at this moment."

The 65-year-old Duch is the youngest of the five Khmer Rouge who have been indicted, and all have health problems.

In August, the investigating judges concluded their yearlong investigation into Duch's case, ordering the defendant to stand trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

But afterward the prosecutors objected, saying the charges were insufficient as they might prevent a full accounting for Duch's criminal responsibility during his tenure at the prison.

They said they wanted Duch additionally charged with homicide and torture — crimes under Cambodian national law — and also with joint criminal enterprise for actions that occurred inside S-21 prison.

Duch Trial Could Stall Into 2009: Monitor

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
30 September 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

The first trial ever of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, for jailed prison chief Duch, could be delayed to the beginning of next year, an independent monitor said Monday.

Long Panhavuth, an official with the Open Society Justice Initiative, which monitors the tribunal, said official predictions that Duch’s trial could come as early as October or November may be premature.

Duch, 65, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role as the director of Tuol Sleng, a Phnom Penh detention center where at least 12,000 Cambodians were tortured and later executed under the regime.

An indictment against him issued by investigating judges of the tribunal has been appealed by prosecutors, delaying further the first trial of the tribunal, which was beset with delays at its inception and has been plagued by funding problems amid allegations of corruption.

“I think there might be another possibility” for his trial date, Long Panhavuth said, adding that a delay until December, when the Pre-Trial Chamber is scheduled to rule on the prosecutor appeal, would be complicated by the onset of the Western holiday seasons of Christmas and New Year’s.

The delays could mean Duch won’t be tried until the first quarter of 2009, he said.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the courts were aiming to try Duch by the end of the year, but “everyone is equal, so everyone of [five detained regime leaders] can appeal or take legal action.”

“We can’t prevent them,” he said.

Trial of ex-Khmer Rouge jailer to be delayed [... again?]

Friday, August 22, 2008
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Plans to begin the trial of a former Khmer Rouge jailer will be delayed by the prosecutors' attempt to have more charges added to the indictment of the suspect, judges for Cambodia genocide tribunal complained on Friday.

The delay is regrettable, the judges said in a statement a day after the tribunal's prosecutors decided to appeal the indictment for Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch.

Duch headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh in the late 1970s. About 16,000 men, women and children are believed to have been held at the prison, which served as a torture center for the Khmer Rouge. Only 14 are thought to have survived.

The number is a small fraction of the estimated 1.7 million deaths attributed to the radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who held power in 1975-79.

The trial for Duch, 66, had been expected to open in late September.

But it now "will be delayed by the appeal" of the prosecutors, the investigating judges said in a brief statement Friday.

While "regretting" the delay, the judges said they "remain determined to do their utmost to ensure that justice is rendered to the Cambodian people as speedily as possible."

It is not clear how long it will take to rule on the prosecutors' appeal.

Many fear the five former Khmer Rouge leaders in detention may die before they face justice.

On Thursday, the tribunal's prosecutors said they will seek to have charges of homicide and torture - crimes under Cambodian national law - added to the indictment.

They said limiting the indictment to charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, which fall under international law and for which Duch has been indicted, "may prevent the trial chamber from fully accounting for Duch's criminal responsibility" during his tenure at the prison.

The prosecutors argued that Duch should also be charged "for his responsibility as a co-perpetrator for a significant number of crimes that occurred as part of a joint criminal enterprise inside" the prison.

They said their mandate "is not just to prosecute certain individuals but ... also to ensure the recording of a full and truthful account of the crimes of the Khmer Rouge and the individual criminality of those responsible for them.