Observers fear Khmer Rouge court being wound down

PHNOM PENH, April 5, 2011 (AFP) - Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court is expected to dismiss two new cases against Khmer Rouge suspects in the face of ongoing political pressure, tribunal observers said Tuesday.

The court, dogged by allegations of political interference and strapped for cash, has yet to announce whether it will go ahead with a third and fourth case against five unnamed members of the brutal 1975-1979 regime.

But court monitors say a decision is expected in the next few weeks.

"Right now, all of the information we have suggests an imminent dropping of the cases against these five suspects," Clair Duffy from the rights group Open Society Justice Initiative told AFP.

Khmer Rouge Court at Critical Point

March 27, 2011
By Clair Duffy
Source: Blog Open Society Foundations

Growing information from inside the court suggests an imminent dropping of the case against the five suspects, possibly by a decision from the co-investigating judges to the effect that the five are not “senior leaders” or “most responsible” and therefore don’t fall under the court’s jurisdiction.

Given the clear message from the history of these cases—that the Cambodian government has always been determined to block them—any decision dismissing these cases will cast serious doubts over the independence of the court, and worse still, over its legacy for justice in Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia is currently considering the appeal of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, the former head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison and torture center, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison last year in the court’s first case. It is also preparing to try four surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders later this year.

But the fate of five additional suspects remains undecided—and may never reach trial because of interference from the Cambodian government.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has been saying that only four or five people would be prosecuted by the court—which uses both local and international prosecutors and judges—from even before the court was set up in 2003. But as the reality of there being five additional suspects has set in, the message from the Cambodian government has got louder, while the UN has become more silent.

UN envoy cites shortcomings of Cambodian judiciary

2010-06-17
Associated Press

A United Nations envoy investigating Cambodia's judicial system said Thursday that there are too many detainees and miscarriages of justice.

U.N. special rapporteur Surya Subedi called on the government to "introduce appropriate measures to enhance the independence and capacity of the judiciary ... to (provide) justice to all in Cambodia."

Subedi statement came at the end of a 10-day fact-finding mission. He is expected to submit a report with recommendations for judicial reform to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva in September.

"The judiciary in Cambodia is facing tremendous challenges in delivering justice for the people of the country, especially the poor and marginalized," he said. "There are an alarmingly high number of people in detention ... and the instances of miscarriage of justice are far too numerous."

Cambodia's judicial system is widely regarded as corrupt and susceptible to political manipulation.

Subedi's predecessor, Yash Ghai, repeatedly clashed with Prime Minister Hun Sen's government over human rights. Ghai had reported that many Cambodians lived in constant fear of having their land stolen by real estate developers and had no recourse because of a corrupt judiciary.

Subedi said he had received several complaints from local politicians and poor Cambodians about constraints on freedom of expression and land disputes and had met with victims of "land grabbing" who said they saw no point in taking their case to the courts.

During his last visit to Cambodia in March, Subedi has said he had made progress on human rights with Hun Sen after years of animosity between the two sides over the thorny issue.

Subedi on Thursday welcomed the adoption of laws in recent years such as a new penal code, an anti-corruption law and a criminal procedure code that are designed to strengthen the judicial system. But he noted a long list of shortcomings that include "external interference" in the judiciary and a lack of awareness among judges about human rights standards.

Cambodians Welcome Trial of Former Khmer Rouge Jailer

2/17/2009
By Daniel Schearf
VOA News

Bangkok - The long-awaited trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief has opened in Cambodia. The trial has been welcomed by Cambodians as a step towards justice.

After 30 years and nearly two million people killed, Cambodians are finally seeing the Khmer Rouge brought to trial.

The first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders has been taken to a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is being charged with crimes against humanity from his time as head of the S-21 detention center.

More than 12,000 Cambodians were tortured and killed at the center under Duch's supervision.

Cambodians lined up early to get into the courtroom where hundreds packed in to witness the proceedings.

Theary Seng is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge period and, along with dozens of other Cambodians, has filed a civil suit against Duch.

"It is incredible that after many years of waiting, after the politics, after the accumulated emotions, and vacillating emotions to actually be here, standing here, and witnessing the first day of the trial for Duch and this day will set the momentum," Seng said. "It will start the wheel of justice turning."

Tuesday's hearing is the procedural part of the trial and is expected to last only a couple days. The presentation of evidence and witnesses are not expected until March.

If found guilty, Duch could face up to life in prison.

At age 66, Duch is the youngest and lowest ranking of the former Khmer Rouge leaders now facing trial, and the only one to have confessed his crimes.

Nature may allow the higher-ranking and older Khmer Rouge leaders to escape justice if they are not brought to trial soon.

Political interference is also a concern. A Cambodian prosecutor at the tribunal objected to any further prosecutions, a view that mirrored that of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Mr. Hun Sen and many other Cambodian officials are themselves former Khmer Rouge members and some may fear being connected too closely to prosecutions.

The Communist Khmer Rouge ruled over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Under their fanatical leader, Pol Pot, they tortured and killed anyone accused of disloyalty. Many more were worked and starved to death.

The Khmer Rouge era ended when Vietnam invaded and scattered them to the Thai border. Remnants of the Khmer Rouge fought from the jungle for more than a decade before they disbanded and some disappeared.

A foreign journalist found Duch in 1999 working in a refugee camp under a false name. He was later arrested.

Funding crisis threatens Cambodia genocide trial [-ECCC: One step forward, ten steps back]

14 March 2008
AFP

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia’s top administrator to the country’s Khmer Rouge tribunal this week gathered together his more than 200 staff to break the news that after April they would not be paid.

The stunning announcement by Sean Visoth is the most tangible sign yet that the UN-backed genocide court, established to prosecute leaders of the regime that was toppled nearly 30 years ago, is going bankrupt months before the first trials are expected to open.

The court’s top officials hold out hope that the international community or the Cambodian government will come up with the millions needed to keep the tribunal running.

But the funding crisis has become the most serious threat yet to the proceedings, already beleaguered by allegations of corruption and mismanagement amid fears of political interference.

‘It is hard to imagine that the court can continue to function without funds,’ said tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis, explaining that the Cambodian side of the joint court would go broke in April.

The UN-supported half of the tribunal is funded for several months more, but would also need a significant influx of cash after that.

‘As the time for expiration of existing funds draws nearer, the situation obviously becomes more acute,’ Jarvis told AFP.

Originally budgeted at 56.3 million dollars over three years, the tribunal’s operating costs have ballooned as the enormity of the job of prosecuting those behind Cambodia’s darkest chapter becomes more apparent.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during their 1975-79 rule.

After nearly a decade of wrangling, the UN and Cambodia opened the tribunal in 2006. The regime’s top five surviving leaders were arrested last year in what many saw as a sign of the sluggish court’s gathering momentum.

But those close to the proceedings say staff are overwhelmed, in part by paperwork, particularly the task of translating tens of thousands of documents into either Cambodian, French or English, the three languages used by the court.

‘The original assumptions about the resources needed and the tasks to be accomplished were inaccurate as is often the case in these tribunals,’ said co-prosecutor Robert Petit, who like other court officials has been critical of the tribunal’s funding structure and projected timeframe.

‘The original budget was inadequate and contained many gaps in essential areas,’ said the UN’s tribunal spokesman Peter Foster.

The UN and Cambodian government have requested an additional 114 million dollars that would allow the court to add hundreds of new staff and remain in operation until 2011.

But so far none of the tribunal’s principle donors-Japan, France, Britain, Germany and Australia-has stepped forward to commit more money.

‘A lack of funds could certainly delay the proceedings,’ Foster said.

Another obstacle in the oft-stalled proceedings would be a further blow to the tribunal’s credibility at a time when support is crucial.

Observers say that despite the arrests, donors do not want the tribunal to be a show-trial that risks being commandeered by Cambodia’s government, which includes many former Khmer Rouge.

Two critical audits detailing hiring irregularities, with lucrative jobs allegedly going to under-qualified candidates, have also made donors hesitant to throw their full support behind the tribunal, the funding for which remains a fraction of that received by other international courts.

‘The donors received the revised budget estimate at the end of January.... They have asked for further clarification in a number of areas and that is now being provided by the court,’ the UN’s Foster said.

He added that donors are expected to meet before the end of the month to discuss the tribunal’s money crunch, and that a sliver of optimism remains.

‘Neither the international community nor the United Nations want to see the court fail, especially since we have successfully come so far along in the process,’ he said.