Nuon Chea Denied Pre-Trial Release

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
20 March 2008

Jailed Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea will remain in tribunal detention ahead of his atrocity crimes trials, a panel of judges ruled Thursday.

Nuon Chea's lawyers had argued his health had worsened since he was jailed in September, but the panel, led by Judge Prak Kimsan, chief of the Pre-Trial Chamber, ruled he could flee, damage evidence or intimidate witnesses.

"There is enough evidence for the provisional detention," Prak Kimsan said.

Nuon Chea, 82, is the senior-most of five jailed Khmer Rouge leaders in tribunal custody.

Son Arun, his lawyer, told journalists he "regretted" the decision and that Nuon Chea's mental health had deteriorated since his arrest.

"If the court wants to try him to the end, they must take care of Nuon Chea's health," Son Arun said.

The decision was fair and up to international and national standards, said Hisham Mousar, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc. But he warned that the case of Ieng Sary may be different, because his health problems are more urgent.

Prak Kimsan also ruled Thursday that civil parties would be allowed to participate in future hearings, as important parts of initial investigations and national reconciliation.

The tribunal, meanwhile, announced former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith's pre-trial hearing was scheduled for April 21, and former nominal head Khieu Samphan's April 23.

Public attendance to Nuon Chea's bail appeal ruling

People line up to attend a hearing for Nuon Chea, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, March 20, 2008. Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal turned down a request for bail on Thursday by Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right-hand-man during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power in the 1970s. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Police and military personnel keep watch as people line up to attend a hearing for Nuon Chea, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, March 20, 2008. Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal turned down a request for bail on Thursday by Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right-hand-man during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power in the 1970s. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
People line up to attend a hearing for Nuon Chea, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, March 20, 2008. Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal turned down a request for bail on Thursday by Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right-hand-man during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power in the 1970s. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Chum Mey, left, one of few survivors at Tuol Sleng prison during the Khmer Rouge rule, is checked by a security personnel outside the courtroom during a hearing of former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea Thursday, March 20, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia's genocide tribunal rejected an appeal Thursday by Noun Chea against his pre-trial detention on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

KRouge leader Nuon Chea to stay in jail pending trial: court

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea in court (Photo: AFP)
The most senior surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge, "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, reacts from his chair before Cambodia's genocide tribunal ruled on an appeal against his pre-trial detention, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh March 20, 2008. Noun Chea is charged against war crimes and crimes against humanity. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea will remain in jail pending trial for war crimes allegedly committed during Cambodia's 1970s genocide, the country's UN-backed tribunal ruled Thursday.

A panel of five judges rejected Nuon Chea's appeal for freedom, saying there were "well-founded" reasons to believe he committed the crimes of which he is accused.

"The appeal is dismissed," said Prak Kimsan, chief judge of the court's pre-trial chamber.

"The grounds for the provisional detention are still satisfied," he added.

The regime's former "Brother Number Two," who is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, has denied the accusations against him and claims his arrest last September was an "illegal act."

His defence team had argued that the judges violated legal procedures during their first interviews with Nuon Chea, during which he was without a lawyer because he had mistakenly waived his right to an attorney.

Nuon Chea's Cambodian lawyer, Son Arun, said following the ruling that he "was not satisfied with the decision."

"I had hoped the court could release him, but unluckily no," he told AFP.

"I want Nuon Chea to join his family so that he can be more comfortable," he said, adding that his client's mental and physical health had deteriorated since his arrest.

"His health is weakening and he is forgetting a lot," Son Arun said, adding that he had asked the court to determine whether Nuon Chea would be mentally fit to stand trial.

"In order to conduct this case properly, the court needs to provide better care," he said.

The 81-year-old appeared frail during Thursday's hearing and had to be helped to stand up by courtroom guards.

Nuon Chea is the senior-most of five Khmer Rouge cadres currently detained by the court over their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.

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

Cities were emptied and their populations exiled to vast collective farms, while schools were closed, religion banned and the educated classes targeted for extermination during the communist regime's 1975-79 rule.

Nuon Chea was the closest deputy of Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot -- who died in 1998 without ever facing justice -- and was allegedly the architect of the regime's devastating execution policies.

In their detention order issued last year, the tribunal's investigating judges alleged that Nuon Chea had enforced policies "characterised by forcible transfers of the population, enslavement, forced labour and other inhumane acts."

The judges argued that Nuon Chea could intimidate witnesses, destroy evidence or flee the country if he remained free pending trial.

Cambodia's genocide tribunal was convened in 2006 after nearly a decade of fractious talks between the government and the United Nations over how to prosecute the regime's leadership.

The first public trials are expected later this year.

Pol Pot's number two loses bail bid

PHNOM PENH, March 20 (Reuters) - Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal turned down a request for bail on Thursday by Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right-hand-man during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power in the 1970s.

The octogenarian former guerrilla leader, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, had argued he was not a flight risk and would not try to influence potential witnesses.

He also told the court last month that fears for his safety were overblown as he had been living for years in "peace and harmony" at his home in the jungle along the Thai border.

An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation under Pol Pot's 1975-79 reign of terror as his dream of creating an agrarian peasant utopia descended into the nightmare of the "Killing Fields".

Nuon Chea is accused of playing a central role in the atrocities and has been implicated directly in the mass slaughter of regime opponents by Duch, head of Phnom Penh's S-21 interrogation and torture centre at the Tuol Sleng high school.

Duch, who is also accused of atrocities, is expected to be a key witness at the United Nations-backed tribunal, which is now facing a major funding crisis.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Michael Battye)

Khmer Rouge Genocide Court Rejects Bail for Nuon Chea

By Ed Johnson

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, who is accused of committing crimes against humanity in Cambodia in the 1970s, must stay in detention while he awaits trial, a United Nations-backed genocide court ruled today.

A panel of judges in the capital, Phnom Penh, unanimously rejected his request for bail, tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said by telephone.

The court in December turned down a similar bail request by former regime prison chief Kang Kek Ieu. Today's ruling may influence whether three other leaders, aged between 75 and 82 and complaining of ill health, will remain in custody as they await trial on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The trials, which are due to begin this year, are central to the process of reconciliation in the Southeast Asian nation, where one in five people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. The movement, which forced the population out of cities to work on collective farms as it tried to establish an agrarian state, is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million people through starvation, disease or execution.

``The appeal is dismissed,'' Agence France-Presse cited Prak Kimsan, chief judge of the pre-trial chamber, as saying. He said there were ``well-founded'' reasons to suspect Nuon Chea, 81, committed the crimes of which he is accused, according to the report. Nuon Chea denies the charges.

War Crimes

Known as ``Brother Number 2,'' Nuon Chea is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, imprisonment, enslavement and persecution.

He served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and was second-in-command to leader Pol Pot.

Vietnamese forces ended the rule of the Khmer Rouge when they captured Phnom Penh in January 1979. Khmer Rouge fighters resisted in the west of the country until the final units surrendered to the Cambodian army 20 years later.

Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, died in his jungle hideout in 1998. Ta Mok, the group's military chief, died in custody in July 2006.

Kang Kek Ieu, also known as Duch, 65, was charged in July for atrocities allegedly committed while he ran the regime's S- 21 jail. He was the first official to be charged by the court in Phnom Penh, which comprises international and Cambodian judges.

Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, 75, and Khieu Samphan, 76, the former head of state, are also in detention awaiting trial. They all deny charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Duch's trial is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, Jarvis said. The other four may be tried together next year, she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at
ejohnson28@bloomberg.net

Cambodian Tribunal Rules on Appeal

By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's genocide tribunal rejected an appeal Thursday by a former Khmer Rouge leader against his pre-trial detention on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The five-judge panel ruled that Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's former ideologist, must remain in custody ahead of trials scheduled to begin later this year.

Nuon Chea faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has been detained since Sept. 19 by Cambodia's U.N.-backed court. Nuon Chea is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders detained for their involvement in the group's brutal 1975-79 rule.

The Khmer Rouge's radical policies caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, diseases, overwork and execution.

Nuon Chea, 81, has denied any guilt, saying he is not a "cruel" man.

In their detention order last year, the tribunal's investigating judges charged him with involvement in crimes including "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts."

They said Nuon Chea faces life imprisonment if convicted and that the detention was necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses, destroying evidence and escaping.

Nuon Chea's own safety could also be at risk, if he were released, they said.

Nuon Chea has argued that the judges did not have sufficient grounds to detain him and called himself "a patriot and not a coward" trying to run away.

In December, the judges ruled against a similar appeal by Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison and torture center.

The other three defendants are Ieng Sary, the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister, his wife Ieng Thirith, who was the minister for social affairs, and Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state.

KRT to issue its decision in Nuon Chea’s bail release appeal verdict on 20 March

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

It has been more than 1 month that the ECCC held its hearing on the appeal for bail release for Nuon Chea, the Brother No. 2 of the Democratic Kampuchea regime, and no decision has since been made yet as to whether he can obtain bail release or not. Reach Sambath, ECCC spokesman, indicated on Monday that the ECCC plans to issue its official verdict on 20 March 2008. However, Son Arun, Nuon Chea’s lawyer is deceived by the delay to issue a verdict in this case. Son Arun told The Mekong Times that Nuon Chea’s defense lawyers are deceived because the ECCC did not issue its verdict yet in his defendant’s case, so that the latter can go meet his wife, children, and grandchildren. Son Arun said that, even though this delay does not affect Nuon Chea’s right, but it was a lot of time wasted. Reach Sambath explained that the ECCC judges need time to consider this request, as there are many legal avenues that must be resolved.

Civil Society: That Nuon Chea’s Verdicts Have Yet To Be Released Is Not A Delay

14-02-2008
By Koh Keo
Kampuchea Thmey
Unofficial Translation by KRtrial.info

Phnom Penh: The primary ruling of the [Pre-Trial Chambers] of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Noun Chea’s provisional detention still have not been clearly scheduled to release after the adjournment on February 4, 2008. However, civil society organizations claimed that it is not a delay.

Reach Sambath, spokesman for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, told Kampuchea Thmey that up to now the Pre-Trial Chamber has not determined the specified date to release its decisions on the appeal by Nuon Chea’s lawyers against their client’s provisional detention yet, since they need time to scrutinize the case.

Reach Sambath added that the Pre-Trial Chamber will give a prior notice of two days before the date on which they will issue their decisions.

Pong Chhiv Kek, President of the LICADHO, said that reason of the late announcement of the verdicts on the appeal by Nuon Chea’s lawyers is that the court needs time to review the case since there are some controversies [in] the appeal hearing against the detention. “In the February 4 hearing, Nuon Chea’s lawyer questioned that ‘why are the lawyers of plaintiffs allowed to take part in the hearing?” said Pong Chhiv Kek.

“On the 4th of February, the plaintiffs claimed that in the name of the plaintiffs they need to observe the whole process of the court while the defence attorney challenged that in that phase only his client should be allowed in the hearing,” said Pong Chhiv Kek, adding it is the issue for all Cambodians. “Therefore, the Khmer Rouge trial needs time to consider. It must comply with the international law, avoiding any practices which violate the international norms. The arrest, for example, cannot be carried out without a warrant. This will set a good model for Cambodia in the future,” said Pong Chhiv Kek.

“Spending some days to issue of the verdicts on Nuon Chea’s appeal against detention is not too long because lawsuits need more time [for all parties] to respond to each other to find the truth,” pointed out Pong Chhiv Kek.

It should be noticed that the February 4 appeal hearing by Nuon Chea’s lawyers was adjourned because Michiel Pestman, a Dutch lawyer of Nuon Chea, was absent.