ECCC Reparations

This blog is designed to serve as a repository of analyses, news reports and press releases related to the issue of RERAPATIONS within the framework of the Extraordinary Chambers in Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a.k.a. the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tribunal Kickbacks Still a Hurdle for US

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
August 2008


The US can directly fund some of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, if the courts can clear themselves of corruption allegations, outgoing US ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said.

"I think we need to find from the Cambodian side a clear, firm commitment to get rid of corruption on the administrative side," Mussomeli said. "I think in Washington everybody now is very much looking forward to finding funding to help directly assist the tribunal, if we could just work this last thing out."

The tribunal has been hampered by allegations of kickbacks, corruption and mismanagement.
Donor countries to the tribunal are now considering whether to continue funding the courts, following fresh allegations of kickbacks made by Cambodian staff in June.

The Cambodian side has established a task force to deal with the allegations.

Funding Shortfall Causes Tension within Corruption-Ravaged KRT

Source: Moneaksekar Khmer
By: Chuob Braha
Posted date: 27-08-2008

UN special expert David Tolbert arrived in Cambodia on 24 August to help find solutions for fund-raising to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) which is facing off around $80 million for a KR leaders’ trial resumption.

UN court’s spokesman Peter Foster said Daivd Tolbert, who has experiences in numerous international courts and deep relations with international community, has begun his job fulfillment for the KRT since 24 August until mid-next week in order to offer consultation and spirit assistance over the budget amount the tribunal needs before lobbying donor counties.

“The special expert was invited by the KRT general secretary. In one of his jobs, he hold a trip around the world then submits the tribunal’s budget needs to the countries which he stops, expecting that he will be able to lobby the counties to make contribution for the tribunal’s crucial term,” Peter Foster said. “I expect that he will seek clues for the fund-raising.”

Initially, the tribunal set its term for three years with the budge amount of $56 million. Now the tribunal has been proceeding for over two years. Among the five jailed and trial-awaiting defendants, no one has been officially put on trial. In addition, the previously set budgets are almost exhausted and any remarkable results have not been produced.

Court public affairs official Helen Jarvis said Cambodian side has just received additional funds amounting to around $4 million in which $3 million is provided by Japan; nearly $1 million by the Cambodian government’s pledge. The UN side’s budget will be completely exhausted at the end of 2008.

Meanwhile, observers said the budgetary crisis is a tension question in the KRT process in the quest for justice for victims tortured and brutally killed by the Khmer Rouge.

However, tribunal irregularity and corruption are viewed as factors in which the donors must set condition before plowing more money.

The donors are taking consideration on the tribunal budget proposal and the new grant is likely to be on the decision next years, said Peter Foster and Helen Jarvis.

U.S. ambassador to Cambodia Josep Mousolmeli, whose term has just ended, said the U.S. will directly grant assistance to the fund-short tribunal if the tribunal deals with corruption allegation.

“I think we need to see a Cambodian side’s concrete commitment in eliminating corruption inside the court’s administration in order to be sure that no such as allegation takes place in the future,” the ambassador said. “I think in Washington now everyone is waiting ahead for budget seeking to directly support the tribunal if the last issue is addressed.”

The U.S. government is beginning its decision on granting direct funds to the tribunal. The U.S. is known for having already offered millions of dollars to some of civil societies in Cambodia to find truth of the killing fields. But the U.S. warned that it will fund direct budget as long as the tribunal applies with international standard and transparency.

The UN-backed tribunal is facing budgetary crisis and trying to seek some more $80 million for its proceedings until 2010. But international community and donors are reluctant to throw more money into the tribunal on the ground of the Cambodian side’s repeatedly-erupting corruption. Especially, the newly erupting corruption has prompted nationals and internationals to distrust on the tribunal though administration head Sean Visoth has formed anti-corruption team.

The tribunal monitors do not expect that the court will make the over 30-year long justice-awaiting victims gain ‘real’ justice. Apparently, for over two years, the Khmer Rouge tribunal has uselessly spent millions of dollars as no former senior Khmer Rouge leaders and those most responsible have officially stood trial. Instead, the corruption allegation subsequently erupts, critically embarrassing the tribunal.

Observers and civil societies’ officials said if the tribunal is willing to find justice of people massacred in the killing fields, the trial of former Tuol Sleng prison director Kaing Guek Eav aka Duch should begin in September or as early as October as scheduled.

Unofficially Translation-Extracted from Moneaksekar Khmer – Vol 15, #3549 – Wednesday, 27 August 2008.
© 2005 All rights are reserved by Open Forum of Cambodia.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Corruption only barrier to US funding of Khmer Rouge court

The Eartimes time
Author: DPA
Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:03:49 GMT


Phnom Penh - The resolution of an ongoing corruption scandal at a joint Cambodian-UN court set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders was the only barrier to direct US funding of the court, the outgoing US ambassador said at a press conference Monday. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli, ending a three-year mission in Cambodia, told reporters at the US embassy that he was convinced the tribunal was on the right track.

"The Khmer Rouge tribunal is making slow progress but it is going in the right direction," he said.

"We want to support and fund the Khmer Rouge tribunal directly, but we cannot until we are convinced it is a real tribunal ... and will give Cambodian people a real chance at justice."

He said an ongoing investigation and controversy over kickbacks for jobs allegations and other irregularities which has dogged the Cambodian side of the court since 2006 was close to resolution.

Earlier this month the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which currently has five former Khmer Rouge leaders in custody, launched a new ethics' monitor to address complaints.

The UN Development Program has expressed concerns and donors have withheld funding for July worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for Cambodian employees until the matter is sorted out.

The court is expected to hear its first case against former S-21 torture centre chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, as early as October. Up to 16,000 people are believed to have died at S-21.


As many as 2 million people died of starvation, overwork, disease, torture and execution under the 1975-79 ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge regime, but the aged and often-ailing leaders lived freely until the court's indictments began being issued last year.

© 2008 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved

Monday, August 25, 2008

UN Finance Expert Arrives at Tribunal

By Reporters, VOA 25 August 2008

A financial expert for the UN side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal began work in Phnom Penh Monday, as the courts continue to face potential funding problems.


David Tolbert, who was brought into the process by the UN secretary-general to assist with country-to-country fundraising, arrived Sunday and is expected to stay through the week, UN tribunal spokesman Peter Foster said.


"He's here as a result of the UN becoming aware of the additional help and ensuring that the budget presented to donors took into account the experiences from all the other tribunals," Foster said. "With his advice and assistance we will be able to put together the revised budget."
Recent accusations of continued kickbacks on the Cambodian side of the hybrid tribunal has led to a freeze in funding, and a tribunal spokeswoman said Monday that while the Cambodian side can run through the end of 2008, the UN side may only have a budget for a few more months.
"We are quite able to proceed for the next year," the spokeswoman, Helen Jarvis, said. "On the UN side, it's a little bit more difficult. They would expect to run out of funds within the next few months."

Prosecutors for the tribunal, meanwhile, say they are still considering whether to charge additional suspects beyond the five now facing charges of atrocity crimes.

US plans to pledge funds for KRouge court

Monday, August 25, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The United States will give its first donation to Cambodia's cash-strapped Khmer Rouge genocide trial as soon as the UN-backed court resolves corruption allegations, the US ambassador said Monday.

The tribunal faces a funding shortfall of more than 40 million dollars. Officials travelled to New York in June to petition UN members for more funds.

"The United States government is right now on the threshold of making its decision to directly fund the tribunal," outgoing Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told reporters at his farewell press conference at the US embassy.

"I think in Washington now everyone is very much looking forward to finding funding to help directly assist the tribunal if we can just work this last thing out," he said.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal this month launched a new ethics monitor to grapple with ongoing claims of corruption within the court after the UN Development Programme made fresh allegations of kickbacks on the Cambodian side of the court, forcing international donors to withhold funding for July.

International backers have appeared hesitant to pledge more money to the process after earlier allegations of political interference and mismanagement, including that Cambodian staff paid money in exchange for their jobs.

But tribunal officials have said the allegations last year were "unspecific, unsourced and unsubstantiated."

The court is preparing for its first trial against Kaing Guek Eav, better known as "Duch," who ran a notorious torture centre in Phnom Penh.

He is expected in the dock in October, once the court has dealt with the prosecution's appeal of his indictment, which it said failed to present a "full and truthful account" of his crimes.

In all, five top Khmer Rouge leaders are now facing charges before the tribunal for crimes committed by the regime.

Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and execution as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.
Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved.

Trial of ex-Khmer Rouge jailer to be delayed

The International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: August 22, 2008

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.

Copyright © 2008 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Co-Prosecutors Woke and Realized...

The Co-Prosecutors woke up and realized that there would not be doing the Cambodian people service if they did not go after every count in the charge against Kaing Guek Eav fathomable. Observers of international criminal tribunals remember last time it happened: it was when ICTY/ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte decided to charge Slobodan Milosevic with every count the prosecution felt they could justify regardless what an overkill it was if the prosecution was merely looking to convict; we also remember what happened in that case -- the defendant died of natural causes before the court could convict or aquit. It is noteworthy that it did not take Del Ponte 2 years to realize what the content of the charge against Milosevic should be. Equally noteworthy is the time that had spanned between the filing of Milosovic's indictment and the commission of the offenses he was alleged to have committed and those of Kaing's. This time is less than 7 years in Milosevic's case and about 30 years in Kaing's case. Pretty drastic a difference to come up with a bulk of new evidence in Kaing's case unless all the prosecution is doing is buying time. This will start sound as even more of a possibility if one takes into account that the closing order of the CIJs was, for the most part, a carbon copy of the Final Submission filed by the OCPs about a week ago. The prosecution got everything they wanted and yet they decide to change their mind just when the trial date was being set. There better be a good explanation for this type of use of court time.

Prosecutors seek re-investigation of Khmer Rouge prison chief

AFP
Friday, 22 August 2008


PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Prosecutors at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court appealed Thursday the indictment of the former Khmer Rouge prison chief, saying it failed to present a "full and truthful account" of his crimes.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, became the first suspect indicted by the genocide tribunal last week.

The 65-year-old was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 men, women and children when he headed Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21.

But prosecutors claim the charges do not extend far enough.

"The Closing Order (indictment) does not charge Duch for his responsibility, as a co-perpetrator, for a significant number of crimes that occurred as part of a joint criminal enterprise inside S-21," the prosecution said in a statement.

"This may prevent the Trial Chamber from fully accounting for Duch's criminal responsibility at S-21," the prosecutors added.

Their appeal requests that a panel of investigating judges reopen the case against Duch in order to extend the charges against him.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told AFP the appeal would not significantly delay the trial, expected to open around late September and last up to four months.
"All sides have no intention of delaying the trial," he said.

Duch, a former mathematics teacher, has been in prison since 1999 for his role at Tuol Sleng.
He was transferred to the custody of the UN-backed court in July last year, becoming the first top Khmer Rouge cadre to be detained by the tribunal.

The indictment order, posted on the tribunal website, said more than 12,380 people were executed at S-21 -- most after suffering inhumane detention conditions and prolonged mental and physical torture.

Thousands of inmates were also taken from the centre for execution at Choeng Ek, one of the areas now known as the Killing Fields.

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.

Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved.

Prosecutors seek re-investigation of Khmer Rouge prison chief

AFP
Friday, 22 August 2008


PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Prosecutors at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court appealed Thursday the indictment of the former Khmer Rouge prison chief, saying it failed to present a "full and truthful account" of his crimes.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, became the first suspect indicted by the genocide tribunal last week.

The 65-year-old was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 men, women and children when he headed Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21.

But prosecutors claim the charges do not extend far enough.

"The Closing Order (indictment) does not charge Duch for his responsibility, as a co-perpetrator, for a significant number of crimes that occurred as part of a joint criminal enterprise inside S-21," the prosecution said in a statement.

"This may prevent the Trial Chamber from fully accounting for Duch's criminal responsibility at S-21," the prosecutors added.

Their appeal requests that a panel of investigating judges reopen the case against Duch in order to extend the charges against him.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told AFP the appeal would not significantly delay the trial, expected to open around late September and last up to four months.
"All sides have no intention of delaying the trial," he said.

Duch, a former mathematics teacher, has been in prison since 1999 for his role at Tuol Sleng.
He was transferred to the custody of the UN-backed court in July last year, becoming the first top Khmer Rouge cadre to be detained by the tribunal.

The indictment order, posted on the tribunal website, said more than 12,380 people were executed at S-21 -- most after suffering inhumane detention conditions and prolonged mental and physical torture.

Thousands of inmates were also taken from the centre for execution at Choeng Ek, one of the areas now known as the Killing Fields.

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.

Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved.

More charges sought against Khmer Rouge jailer

The International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: August 21, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Prosecutors at Cambodia's genocide tribunal said Thursday they will seek to have more charges added to the indictment issued against a former member of the Khmer Rouge who headed the group's most notorious prison.

A senior genocide researcher said the plan to appeal the court's indictment could cause another snag in efforts to convene the trial of Kaing Guek Eav — also known as Duch — who headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh in the late 1970s.

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

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.

In a prepared statement, the prosecutors said the charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes 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.

"They believe that there should be a wider scope to the charges," Peter Foster, a tribunal spokesman, said Thursday.

In their final submission in July, the prosecutors had also sought to have Duch charged for homicide and torture — crimes under Cambodian law — in addition to crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law.

But last week, after finishing their mandated probe, the investigating judges issued their order indicting Duch only for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The prosecutors argued in response 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."

The prosecutors said they will file their appeal before the statutory deadline of Sept. 10.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group researching Khmer Rouge atrocities, said he feared that the prosecutors' move would cause a further delay to the trial, which will come almost three decades after the fall of the group.

"It won't ease the frustration of the public," he said. Many fear the five former Khmer Rouge leaders in detention may die before they face justice.

Copyright © 2008 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved


STATEMENT OF THE CO-PROSECUTORS

Appeal of Closing Order for DUCH

After due consideration, the Co-Prosecutors have decided to appeal the Closing Order of 8 August 2008 that indicted Kaing Guek Eav alias DUCH for crimes committed in the Khmer Rouge’s S-21 Security Centre in Phnom Penh.

In making their decision, the Co-Prosecutors have taken into account the expectation of the Cambodian people and the international community to bring to trial, as early as possible, those who are believed to have committed some of the most egregious violations of international humanitarian law in the history of the twentieth century.

However, while the judicial investigation of DUCH’s criminality has been conducted by the Co-Investigating Judges, it is the responsibility of the Co-Prosecutors to prove a case beyond reasonable doubt before the Trial Chamber. The Co-Prosecutors’ mandate is not just to prosecute certain individuals but, consistent with the purpose of this Court, 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.

In the Co-Prosecutors’ assessment, while the Closing Order arguably contains charges that may ensure DUCH’s conviction, it limits DUCH’s criminality and the modes of his criminal liability. The Closing Order does not charge DUCH for his responsibility, as a co-perpetrator, for a significant number of crimes that occurred as part of a joint criminal enterprise inside S-21. This may prevent the Trial Chamber from fully accounting for DUCH’s criminal responsibility at S-21.

The Closing Order omits to charge DUCH under the Cambodian Penal Code of 1956, even if the ECCC statute grants the Court jurisdiction over these crimes. Charges under that Code would reflect DUCH’s complete criminal conduct, would advance domestic Cambodian law and would be highly significant for the Cambodian people and their sense of ownership over the judicial proceedings.

The legal defects of the Closing Order and their possible negative consequences at the trial stage have guided the Co-Prosecutors in their decision to appeal. They will file a full appeal brief before 10 September 2008, the statutory deadline. Thereafter, the Co- Prosecutors will work with all other relevant organs of this Court for an expedited disposal of this appeal.

_____________________

This statement is available on the ECCC website. Khmer and French versions will be posted shortly.


Reach Sambath Presss Officer Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Tel: (855) 12 891 567 Fax: (855) 23 219 841 Email: reach.sambath@eccc.gov.kh, reachsambath@hotmail.com

Web: www.eccc.gov.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Tribunal Recounts Regime's Vietnam War

By Mean Veasna
VOA Khmer
20 August 2008


The executions of ethnic Vietnamese by the Khmer Rouge could be the key to genocide charges for jailed leaders of the regime, but prosecutors documents also recount a conflict between the Khmer guerrillas and their Vietnamese neighbors that began almost immediately after the Khmer Rouge came to power.

The Vietnam government does not fund the Khmer Rouge tribunal, but more Vietnamese nationals were killed by the regime than any other foreign group. The regime also killed Thai, Lao, French, New Zealand and US nationals.

"Regarding this issue, several powerful countries, rich countries, have assisted in funding the Khmer Rouge tribunal already," Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Trinh Bac Cam said Wednesday.

Closing orders in the case of Kaing Kek Iev, also called Duch, issued by tribunal judges claim at least 400 Vietnamese civilians and soldiers were killed at Tuol Sleng prison alone.


Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said at least 600 Vietnamese were killed by the Khmer Rouge at Tuol Sleng and another detention center in Prey Veng province.

In highlighting the conflict, which led to the eventual invasion of Cambodia by Vietnamese forces and the ouster of the Khmer Rouge, tribunal documents are fulfilling a quieter role of the tribunal: a recounting of history that has been lost on Cambodians in subsequent years.

According to indictment documents posted by tribunal prosecutors recently, the Khmer Rouge maintained a conflict with Vietnam over border disputes between April 1975 and December 1978.

The conflict took place in border areas including Ratanakkiri, Mondolkiri, Takeo, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham and Prey Veng provinces, and on the island formerly known as Koh Tral, better known now by its Vietnamese name, Phu Quoc.

An invasion force of 150,000 Vietnamese troops began an offensive in December 1978, driving the Khmer Rouge out of the capital on Jan. 7, 1979.

The conflict, and suspicions of Vietnamese agents withing the ranks of the Khmer Rouge, led to the killing of many Vietnamese.

"If there will be a trial, justice is for all victims," Trinh Bac Cam said.

Tribunal observers said recently prosecutors could seek genocide charges against the five jailed Khmer Rogue leaders for the killing of the Vietnamese.

"A part of justice will be shared with Vietnamese citizens who have their relatives, military and civilian, killed during Democratic Kampuchea," Youk Chhang said.


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Cambodian tribunal denies corruption charges


Phnom Penh (dpa) - The Cambodian government official in charge of the Khmer Rouge tribunal pledged to resign if any allegations of corruption prove true, a court spokesman said Tuesday.


"Sean Visoth has pledged he will resign if any evidence of corruption is found, from today," court spokesman Reach Sambath said.


Visoth is the director of administration for the tribunal.


Allegations of kickbacks and other irregularities have plagued the joint UN-Cambodian court set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders since 2006, but have been strenuously denied by Cambodian officials, who branded the claims politically motivated and unfair.


Sambath said the court had also set up a mechanism to hear corruption allegations, headed by the court's chief of public affairs Helen Jarvis and director of the nation's Supreme Court, Kong Srim.


Despite allegations that neither are independent of the government, Reach Sambath said the 250 Cambodian staff at the tribunal, which have had 300,000 dollars in salaries frozen by the United Nations Development Fund since June, were pleased.


"When we announced the new committee to the staff, they all cheered," Sambath said. "Everyone is satisfied."


Some estimate that 2 million Cambodians died under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 Democratic Kampuchea regime - but others believe the toll was higher. The court currently has five senior former leaders in custody.


It indicted its first defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, aka Duch, the former head of the S-21 torture centre, on August 8, according to court papers.


Cambodia has been ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia by Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International.


© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1996-2008


Sean Visoth Will Resign If...?

For Sean Visoth's promise of resignation to carry any weight there would have to be an independent investigation into the financial affairs of the tribunal with the goal of delivering its findings to the public whatever they might be and regardless of whomever they might implicate. There is no such investigation ongoing or planned at this point which makes it a hollow promise that no one will ever have to live up to. It does sound brave, otherwise.

Director of KRT administration will resign if found to be involved in corruption

By Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times
Monday, August 18, 2008

Sean Visoth, direc­tor of administra­tion at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT), has promised to resign if he is found to be involved in any corruption, said KRT spokesman Reach Sam­bath Friday.

Speaking at a meeting held to launch the KRT's new anti-corruption mech­anism, Sean Visoth told staff that he has tried to make the KRT a success for years, and if he is connect­ed to corruption within its ranks he would have to go. "If there is any corrup­tion in the KRT relating to me, I will resign." Sean Vi­soth said in front of Cam­bodian and foreign staff Friday. Reach Sambath said that the promise will strengthen the staff's re­solve to fight graft.

Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Cen­ter of Cambodia, said that Sean Visoth's promise is an important message to do nors. "This promise shows Sean Visoth's goodwill and desire to make the court proceed with honesty."

Kek Galabru, president of local human rights group Licadho, also wel­comed the statement but said it is not enough. "Corruption does not in­volve only one person. The promise is not enough. Investigations should be conducted to improve con­fidence," she said.

She said that corruption should not become an ob­stacle for Khmer Rouge victims anxiously awaiting justice.

"The KRT's efforts and the formulation of an anti-corruption mechanism confirm that the tribunal is paying close attention to the fight against corrup­tion," said Reach Sambath. "We are all focused primar­ily on justice for victims, because this trial affects humanity as a whole."

Extracted from the Mekong Times
Issue No. 135
Monday, August 18, 2008

Monday, August 18, 2008

KRT forms new anti-corruption committee

By: Neth PheaktraPosted date: 18-08-2008

The Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) last Friday the announced the establishment of a new anti-corruption committee that will hear and resolve any graft allegations raised by staff.

KRT spokesman Reach Sambath said Saturday that the new body will be head by senior official Kong Srim, director of Cambodian Supreme Court, and Helen Jarvis, the KRT’s chief of public affairs.

He adds that the mechanism has been established to prevent corruption on the KRT’s Cambodian side, which has suffered fresh allegation of salary kickbacks despite giving the clean bill of health by a UN Development Program (UNDP) approved audit in May.

In the last few week KRT officials have confirms that more than one member of staff have come forward of graft with allegations, and that the accusations are currently being reviewed by an UN oversight committee in New York.

Reach Sambath said the new mechanism was announced to over 250 KRT officials at a Friday meeting.

He quoted Prak Kimsan, the director of the Pre-Trial Chamber, as saying: “When I came to work here. I heard the accusations of corruption. This is disgrace for our tribunal. We should have this mechanism.”

Prak Kimsan added that anyone found accepting or offering bribes at the KRT could be jailed.
Reach Sambath quoted Kong Srim as saying he is committed to success in the fight against corruption. “[If] any person sees or hears of any corruption they are report it to me by letter, which can be anonymous or not. I will punish those who commit transgressions,” said Kong Srim.

While the corruption allegations are being reviewed the UNDP has withheld salaries for the Cambodian side of the court, which amount to US$300,000 just for July. Funds recently donated by Japan have been used to pay Cambodian staff.

Meng Kimseng, UNDP spokesman, said Saturday that the UNDP has no new information on when it will be able to release the salary funds.

The anti-graft mechanism has been welcomes by civil society leaders, albeit with some skepticism.

Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, praised the establishment of the committee saying it could help boost donor confidence in the tribunal.

However, he added that the problem may not be as big as first thought and that, to some donors, the establishment of such a mechanism could convince donors that graft at the tribunal is a bigger problem than the reality.

Sok Sam Oeun, director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said: “The creation of an anti-corruption mechanism could make donors countries a little bit more confident, but I don’t believe that it will be effective in fighting corruption.”

Kek Galabru, president of local human rights group Licadho, said: “The establishment of the mechanism is good, but it is not enough. Further investigations should be conducted to recapture donor confidence and let the KRT get on with the real work of sentencing former Khmer Rouge leaders.”

Extracted from: The Mekong Time Vol 01, No 135, Monday, August 18, 2008.
© 2005 All rights are reserved by Open Forum of Cambodia.



Observers Mistrust Corruption Elimination In KRT

By: Chuob BrahaPosted date: 18-08-2008

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) last Friday established an anti-corruption committee in the court to avoid criticism by nationals and internationals.

Sean Visoth, head of administration, said to officials he would resign if the corruption was found in the ECCC. But observers have not been convinced by his announcement as now the corruption allegation has not been addressed.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told reporters the anti-corruption committee is head by Judge Kong Srim, head of Supreme Court Chamber, and Helen Jarvis, head of public affairs.
“H.E. Sean Visoth stresses he wants to solve it. From now if any corruption is found, he will step down. He has sacrificed his life in this kind of work to get effectiveness and justice for people,” Reach Sambath said.

The anti-corruption committee establishment followed subsequent corruption allegation though independent auditors have not discovered any graft, Sambath added.

Reach Sambath said of any offences imposed for those commit corruption, “As we know, we have to respect law. Judge Prak Kim San said those who give someone bribe are wrong. Those who receive bribe must be ready to be imprisoned. You Bunleng said that those who take bribe to someone must be dismissed and those who receive bribe must be punished.”

“The most important thing is that we have to monitor the body’s activities and what measures the body has taken. Thus, both outcomes and legacy are depended on the body’s efforts, based on their own destination,” he added.

The UN-joined tribunal has been proceeding for over two years. The corruption allegation inside the administrative subsequently emerged. Recently, the UN Development Program has frozen Cambodian staffers’ monthly salaries for the month of July 2008 due to a new corruption allegation which has undermined the tribunal.

Keo Thyvuth, chief of personnel, was removed from his position and transferred back to his office of the Council of Ministers.

The trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, is expected to begin in September or October as his case file is completely investigated. But it is concerned over budgetary crisis that may result in the delay of the planned trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Donors have not yet brought more money to the tribunal because of the corruption allegation.
Observers say the U.S.-based Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) was directly critical of the corruption inside the tribunal, but Sean Visoth dismissed it and refused to cooperate with OSJI.

Instead, now Sean Visoth announces to fight against the corruption, establishing a so-called anti-corruption body headed by Judge Kong Srim and Helen Jarvis.

Sean Visoth’s last Friday announcement involved in the anti-corruption body is more likely that the court is totally ravaged by corruption.

Former KR leaders are condemned for killing some 1.7 million people during their reign from 17 April 1975 to early January 1979.

Five jailed and trial-awaiting former KR leaders and those most responsible for include Nuon Chea, former president of people representative’s assembly; Ieng Sary, former deputy prime minister in charge of foreign affairs; Khieu Samphan, former head of state; Ieng Thirith, former social affairs; and Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, former chief of Tuol Sleng prison.

Civil societies’ officials and Cambodian people inside and outside the counties want the defendants’ trial to be held soon in order that they reveal the crimes committed.

The ageing and seriously ill leaders could die before going to trial if the court is delayed. Ieng Sary suffers from urinating blood and Khieu Samphan suffers from high blood pressure. Both of them are most often taken to Calmette Hospital.

Unofficial translation-Extracted from Moneaksekar Khmer – Vol 15, #3541 – Monday, August 18, 2008
© 2005 All rights are reserved by Open Forum of Cambodia.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Anti-Corruption Measures Now?!

This is no mystery about why the Cambodian side of the tribunal would want to mount some type of anti-corruption discussions now that it's been repeatedly discredited by allegations of corruption for 2 years. It is not clear why anyone should care as all the hiring -- around which most of the corruption allegations revolve -- has been long done and the Cambodian side has stated on numerous occasions that they would be unwilling to review the applications and qualifications of the personnel who had already been hired. What's the point of instituting new practices which have no chance of affecting any hiring decisions, even if properly and honestly instituted?

Tribunal Staff Sets Up Anti-Corruption Team

Tribunal Staff Sets Up Anti-Corruption Team
15 August 2008

The Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has established a committee to solve corruption issues, following allegations of kickbacks in the courts.

Administration Director Sean Visoth and Cambodian prosecutors and judges met with more than 250 staff met Friday, appointing tribunal judge Kong Srim, chief of the Cambodian judges, and tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis to investigate corruption within the Cambodian side of the tribunal, spokesman Reach Sambath said.


"The aim of the meeting was to strengthen the mechanisms to fight against corruption, which has been alleged in the tribunal," he said.

Kong Srim could not be reached for comment Friday, but Reach Sambath said all Cambodian staff who have heard about corruption or faced it themselves will be encouraged to provide information to the judge or Jarvis.

The Cambodian side of the joint UN tribunal has been beleaguered by corruption allegations, including reports in June by staff of kickbacks. The new allegations led to the freezing of the July salaries of all Cambodian staff by the UNDP.

The Victims Unit of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has received around 1,800 complaints from purported victims of the regime, but not all of them are within the jurisdiction of the special courts, tribunal officials said Thursday.

"Those who want to file a complaint must make a charge for the period between April 1975 and January 1979," said Keat Bophal, chief of the Victims Unit, as a guest on "Hello VOA." "That is the jurisdiction of the court."


Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath, who was also a guest, said some of the complaints were not valid, such as a complaint that France had cut Cambodian land from neighboring countries.

Keat Bophal said those with complaints about the regime, within the jurisdiction of the courts, could call the unit, at 023 214 290.

The tribunal was designed to help facilitate reconciliation, in part by providing a means by which victims of the regime could file against defendants, five of whom are so far in jail.

Watchdog for Rouge tribunal


PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal has launched a new “ethics monitor” to grapple with ongoing claims of corruption within the court, spokesman Reach Sambath said.

The anti-corruption committee is headed by one of the court’s top judges, Kong Srim, and tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis, Reach Sambath said.
“Our goal is to strengthen the oversight mechanism against corruption,” he said on Friday.
The panel will field complaints from tribunal staffers and look into any graft claims within the joint Cambodian-UN court, he added.

The new watchdog was set up after the UN Development Programme (UNDP) raised fresh allegations of kickbacks on the Cambodian side of the court in late June, forcing international donors to withhold funding for July, including salaries for tribunal staff.
People found guilty of corruption could be sent to prison, Reach Sambath added.
The court is preparing for its first trial, set to begin in late September or early October, against Kaing Guek Eav, better known as “Duch,” who ran a notorious torture centre in Phnom Penh.
The tribunal faces a $43.8mn funding shortfall, and officials travelled to New York in June to petition UN members for more funds.

International backers have appeared hesitant to pledge more money to the court after previous allegations of political interference and mismanagement, including that Cambodian staff paid money in exchange for their jobs.
But court officials have said last year’s allegations were “unspecific, unsourced and unsubstantiated.”

Up to 2mn people died of starvation, overwork and execution as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.–AFP

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A Curious Statement by the Cambodian Co-Prosecutor

"[I]t is true that the pros­ecution has charged the five people with genocide," said Chea Leang, adding, how­ever, that prosecutors will only ask judges to prepare genocide charges if suffi­cient evidence is found. "If the co-investing judges think there are genocide cases, charges must be imposed.”

It is an interesting statement. Wouldn't the approval of the Co-Investigating Judges (CIJs) be routinely necessary to levy any type of charges? If so, what exactly is the point of this statement?

KRT charges could seek genocide

Craig Guthrie
The Mekong Times
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

All five defendants charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) may yet face an additional charge of genocide, a narrowly defined legally, more contentious charge which has divided Khmer Rouge (KR) scholars and tribunal watchers for decades.

Chea Leang, the court's chief Cambodian co-prosecutor, said in an interview yesterday that when her prosecution team has finished investigating the current charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, it will begin investigating charges of genocide, noting that this was mentioned in the prosecution's introductory submission.

"The factual allegations in this introductory submission constitute ... genocide," said the KRT document, released in July 2007.

"[I]t is true that the pros­ecution has charged the five people with genocide," said Chea Leang, adding, how­ever, that prosecutors will only ask judges to prepare genocide charges if suffi­cient evidence is found. "If the co-investing judges think there are genocide cases, charges must be imposed.”

Describing the acts com­mitted by the KR during its brutal three-and-a-half-year rule as "genocide" has a history of controversy, with many historians and politicians arguing over the notion that there was "clear intent" to destroy ethnic groups based on their race, religion or nationality. The author Milton Osborne told Asian Analysis in De­cember that while genocide might be applied to those people killed by the regime who were not Cambodian, "it seems correct to suggest that in killing their fellow Cambodians, members of the DK [Democratic Kampuchea] regime were acting against those whom they saw as en­emies of the state."

But top Cambodian re­searcher and historian Greg­ory Stanton has argued quite the opposite, suggesting in his article Blue Scarves and Yellow Stars that historical reports confirm Cham Mus­lims, and ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese were targeted for extinction by the KR.

"The Cham nation no lon­ger exists on Kampuchean soil belonging to the Khmer," he quoted a document recov­ered from the KR government as saying. "[T]he Cham na­tionality, language, customs and religious beliefs must be immediately abolished."

He added that the regime forced Cham Muslims to eat pork and massacred their leaders, while Cambodians from the Eastern province bordering Vietnam were made to wear blue and white checked krama (scarves), a "killing sign" which the au­thor likens to the yellow stars Jews were made to wear un­der Nazi rule.

But David Chandler, the author of Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison, told The Mekong Times that he finds the notion of possible geno­cide charges for the five KR defendants "strange stuff."

"The timing seems odd to me and I can't see how [for­mer S-21 chief Kaing Guek Eav] Duch or [former KR Foreign Minister] Ieng Sary can be convicted of geno­cide under the phrasing of the UN convention [against genocide]."

A "paper trail" to the oth­er three KR leaders currently detained by the court has always been hard to find, he said. "Perhaps the defen­dants will be judged inno­cent of genocide - which in my opinion they are - in the absence of evidence proving genocidal intent," he said by email.

Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said he hopes that the tribunal will investigate the genocide link, as he says there is clear evidence that Chams, Vietnamese and Buddhist monks were targeted for oppression and killings.

"But I think the charges are unlikely to arrive, as it is very difficult to prove legally there was intent, and there is no 'smoking gun'," he said, adding that it would be particularly difficult to prove in the case of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, the chief of the S-21 torture center.

Extracted from the Mekong Times
Issue No. 132
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Khmer Rouge Tribunal formally indicts Duch

The Mekong Times
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) formally indicted Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, the chief of the Khmer Rouge torture center S-21, on Tuesday, paving the way for the court's first public trial.

The UN-assisted tribunal said in a statement that its investigating judges issued the indictment upon ending their investigation of Duch.

Duch, 66, charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, is the first suspect to be indicted by the tribunal. He and four other former senior members of the Khmer Rouge were taken into custody last year.
The tribunal's announcement marks another "important moment in the history of the court," said Peter Foster, a tribunal spokesman.

He said the indictment sets the stage for the first trial of the tribunal, which began its work in early 2006. No date has yet been set for a trial, but tribunal officials have previously said it was expected to begin in late September.

When Duch was detained by the tri­bunal in July last year, he was charged only with crimes against humanity, with the war crimes charge being add­ed with the end of the investigation against him. Duch will be tried by a panel of five judges - three Cambodian, one French and one New Zealander - according to a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the UN establishing the tribunal. (AP)

Khmer Rouge jailer indicted

Ker Munthit
The Guardian
Wednesday August 13 2008

Cambodia's genocide tribunal formally indicted a former prison chief of the notorious Khmer Rouge yesterday, paving the way for the first trial since the court was set up in early 2006.

The UN-assisted tribunal said in a statement that its investigating judges had issued the indictment after ending their inquiries into the 66-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, whose Phnom Penh prison was used as a torture centre.

Duch, accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes, is the first suspect to be indicted by the tribunal. He and four other former senior members of the Khmer Rouge, which held power in the late 1970s, were taken into custody last year.

The indictment, posted on the tribunal website, came in a closing order by the investigating judges. The indictment documents now go to the tribunal judges.

The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge are considered responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. No senior member of the group has ever stood trial for the atrocities.

No date has yet been set for a trial, but tribunal officials have previously said it was expected to begin in late September.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Personnel Manager's Removal

There is more to this story than the article below lets on. The newly appointed personnel manager stepped into the shoes of his predecessor who was "removed" from this position in the midst of the recently surfaced graft accusations reportedly brought to the attention of the UN side of the tribunal by the Cambodian side's rank-and-file employees. Curiously enough, the court felt that the accusations against the stepping down personnel manager were not grave enough to prosecute, but sufficient to remove him from the job and remand him to his previously held position at the Council of Ministers.

Efforts to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption law have been ongoing in Cambodia since the UNTAC period and a number of drafts have been produced to this effect since -- recently (last 5 years) with generous US funding to a US-based NGO, PACT -- which thus far have not amounted to a statute. This, however, does not mean that there is no legal basis for prosecution on charges of corruption at this point as the existing criminal code contains an article which expressly proscribes corruption.

If the tribunal is trying to make a point of 'going clean' here, remanding an alleged perpetrator to his formerly held job hardly sounds as an suitable punishment.

Monday, August 11, 2008

KRT appoints new chief of troubled personnel department

By Craig Guthrie
The Mekong Times
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) has appointed a new chief of personnel to the Cambodian side of the UN-backed court, which was rocked by corruption allegations earlier this month.

Keo Thy Vuth has been replaced by Rong Chhorng, the former secretary general of the National Com­mittee for Population and Development (NCPD) at the Council of Ministers, KRT Public Affairs chief Helen Jarvis said yesterday.

"I am happy to have this opportunity to contribute to this institution which is of significant historical importance," said Rong Chhorng.

Sean Visoth, the KRT's chief of administration, said that he believed the appointment would strengthen the court, which is about to move into its crucial trial phase.

Helen Jarvis said that the court believes the ap­pointment will strength­en the court's human re­sources management.

Allegations of corrup­tion among the Cambodian staff at the court recently resurfaced following pre­vious accusations made by legal watchdog NGO the Open Society Justice Initiative.

The allegations, which prompted the UN Development Program to last week halt its funding to the court, are currently being reviewed by a UN oversight committee in New York.

The court is expected to hold its first public trial in September or October, with former S-21 torture center chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, facing the charge of crimes against humanity.


Extracted from the Mekong Times
Issue No. 131
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Friday, August 8, 2008

New Law Review Article (Excerpts) on the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC)

Was There Good Reason to Order Pre-trial Detentions of the ex-Khmer Rouge Functionaries?
Introduction

Shortly after the inception of the Extraordinary Chambers in Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the reputed commandant of the central security prison of Democratic Kampuchea, Kaing Guek Iev, was transferred into its custody from the military prison where he had been held for 8 years prior on orders of the Military Tribunal. Kaing Guek Iev continued to retain his lawyer of 8 years, Kar Savuth, and was expeditiously assigned an international lawyer, François Roux. Kaing Guek Iev’s co-lawyers, subsequently, filed an appeal of their client’s pre-trial detention earlier ordered by the Office of Co-Investigating Judges (OCIJ). As per the rules of procedure of the ECCC such appeal was filed to the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC or the Chamber). Following this appeal, public and in camera hearings were held before the decision was publicly announced on 3 December, 2007 denying the appeal.

Noun Chea, the reputed Democratic Kampuchea’s second in command, was first to be arrested directly by the ECCC. He already had a Cambodian lawyer, Son Arun, selected by the time of this arrest and communicated his name to the OCIJ at his first interview. The court later appointed two international lawyers, Michiel Pestman and Victor Koppe, to serve alongside Son Arun. This defense team filed an appeal of Noun’s pre-trial detention ordered by the OCIJ. This appeal, as per the Internal Rules (IRs) of the ECCC, was filed to the PTC. Following this appeal, public and in camera hearings were held before the decision was publicly announced on 20 March, 2008 denying the appeal.

Ieng Thirith, Democratic Kampuchea’s Minister of Social Affairs, was arrested directly by the ECCC. She was assigned a Cambodian lawyer, Phat Pouv Seang, and an international lawyer, Dianna Ellis. This defense team filed an appeal of Ieng’s pre-trial detention ordered by the OCIJ. This appeal was filed to the PTC which held public and in camera hearings and resulted in a decision issued on 9 July, 2008, in part, upholding the OCIJ’s reasoning but nonetheless denying Ieng’s appeal.

Said appeal decisions established an important landmark by being, perhaps, the first fully reasoned decisions ever produced by the Cambodian system of criminal justice, along with creating an environment which made the analysis below – and other analyses which might ensure -- possible.

(1) The Pre-trial Detention Test

The question of pre-trial detention and its predicates was destined to be an interesting one due to Cambodia’s far-reaching history of abuse of such detention for extrajudicial reasons.[1] Thus, a mathematically constructed and construed test was necessary to avoid any future accusations or insinuations of irregularities on the part of the ECCC in ordering pre-trial detention. To make matters more complicated, Cambodia happened to be in transition from the criminal procedure laws of the 1990s to a newly-drafted law at the time of the inception of the ECCC. This was exacerbated by the fact that the new criminal procedure law had yet to be adopted and it was unclear when and in what form such an adoption would take place. The criminal procedure in effect at the time, ergo, remained the criminal procedure adopted in the 1990s.[2] The differences between the pre-trial detention test built into the criminal procedure of the 1990s and that appearing in the text of the then draft Cambodian criminal procedure law were drastic and could not be reconciled into one middle-ground test. The presence of international jurists on the court also meant that there would be a strong drive for the adoption of the pre-trial detention tests of the existing international criminal tribunals. In order to give preference to one of the pre-trial detention tests established by other international and hybrid criminal tribunals, the ECCC judges would have to overcome the ECCC Agreement’s stipulation that “the procedure shall be in accordance with Cambodian law”.[3] The ECCC Agreement provided for only two exceptions when international law could be resorted to, namely, (1) where Cambodian law does not deal with a particular matter, and (2) where there is uncertainty regarding the interpretation or application of a relevant rule of Cambodian law[4]. Neither of these applied to the Cambodian law’s pronouncements on pre-trial detention which were dealt with by the 1990s procedure[5] and the then draft criminal procedure law, nor were issues raised by the ECCC as to the level of certainty of their interpretation or application.

Had the 1990s criminal procedure been adopted by the ECCC, the pre-trial test would have looked as follows:
(1) there is a risk of escape or non-appearance manifested by the absence of such factors as:
(a) a job
(b) a family
(c) a home
(2) if there is a reason to believe that the accused will influence witnesses or the conduct of the investigation if released.[6]

Had the ECCC chosen to use the pre-trial detention of the then draft criminal procedure law, the following is what the pre-trial detention test would have looked like:

(1) guarantee the presence of the accused during the proceedings against him
(2) prevent any harassment of witnesses or victims or prevent any collusion between the accused and his accomplices
(3) stop the offense or prevent the offense from happening again
(4) preserve evidence and exhibits
(5) protect security of the accused
(6) preserve public order from any disturbance caused by the offense.[7]

The court instead chose the following test:

(1) there is well-founded reason to believe that the person may have committed the crime or crimes specified in the Introductory or Supplementary Submission and
(2) the Co-Investigating Judges consider Provisional Detention to be a necessary measure to:
(a) prevent the charged person from exerting pressure on any witnesses or victims prevent any collusion between the charged person and accomplices of crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the ECCC
(b) preserve evidence or prevent the destruction of any evidence
(c) ensure the presence of the charged person during the proceedings
(d) protect the security of the charged person
(e) preserve public order[8]

A close examination of the test chosen by the ECCC and the test of the then draft criminal procedure law shows a great degree of similarity and in fact bears only two exceptions which are those of the “stop the offense or prevent the offense from happening again” sub-prong which is not included in the ECCC test and the "well-founded reason to believe" prong which appears in the ECCC test and does not appear in the text under Cambodian law. It is likely that the "stop the offense or prevent the offense from happening again" sub-prong was removed for an understandable reason which is the cessation of all offenses associated with the jurisdiction of the ECCC, as of almost 30 years, and the absence of grounds to believe that their resurgence was a possibility at the time of the operation of the tribunal. ECCC therefore did not significantly deviate from the test established under Cambodian law, in this respect, however, the court significantly altered the draft criminal procedure law’s test by introducing the “well-founded reason to believe” prong which did not appear in the then draft criminal procedure law and which added the complexity of determining the meaning of ‘well-founded’ in international law, a matter briefly discussed further in this paper. The significance of the addition of the “well-founded reason to believe” prong to the test of the draft lies in the fact that a failure to prove it has a faltering effect on the entire rest of the test which cannot survive the court’s negative response to its satisfaction. It is important to note that the IRs which serves as source of the ECCC’s pre-trial detention test was a document which – unlike the ECCC Agreement and ECCC Law – was never offered to the Cambodian people for acceptance and instead was framed by the ECCC judges upon the invocation by them of a self-proclaimed authority to do so for which there are absolutely no grounds in the ECCC Agreement or the ECCC Law. The court thus acted ultra vires in invading the domain of another branch of government power and assuming powers not vested in it by any statutory pronouncements.

As for international law and the procedural pronouncements of the existing international criminal tribunals, none of the prongs of the pre-trial detention test specifically established by them – and not appearing in any known domestic jurisdiction -- were incorporated into the fabric of the ECCC’s pre-trial detention test.
(b) ensure the presence of the charged person during the proceedings

The traditional way of determining whether this sub-prong can be satisfied is the existence of such attributes as family, job, position in community, etc. The PTC decided not to go down the beaten track and blaze a new trail instead. To this end, the Chamber set out to examine Kaing’s past behavior to potentially form it into a pattern demonstrating whether Kaing was a flight risk. PTC started off by asserting that Kaing “disappeared from public view” between 1979 and 1999[1]. There are several problems with this argument: (1) to disappear from public view one must be in public view to begin with for which there is no corroborating evidence in Kaing’s case who never was a national celebrity prior to 1979, whose work was secretive and who was only known to his subordinates, superiors and family; (2) the Chamber points out the lack of clarity about Kaing’s whereabouts during said years, which can only be attributed to insufficient research on the matter; (3) the facts that Kaing did not visit his family, changed jobs, changed his name and lived in a particular part of the country hardly amount to persuasive proof of the Chamber’s assertion that he is a flight risk now; (4) the fact that Kaing allegedly disappeared when the first story about him came out is understandable and precautionary, which is not the case today as his name has been communicated to the public sufficiently well in the last 10 years, an observation with which the Chamber agrees[2].

The bedrock of the PTC’s argument for the satisfaction of the test at hand seems to be its assertion that Kaing currently presents a flight risk due to “the possibility of being sentenced to life imprisonment”[3] and that “he will be tried publicly before his victims and their relatives”[4]. In the decision on Noun appeal, the Chamber, however, takes a different approach and asserts that “the risk of flight cannot be evaluated solely on the basis of the gravity of the crimes and possible sentence”[5] which is an interesting roundabout from what seems to be the Chamber’s key argument for the satisfaction of the same test in the decision on Kaing’s appeal. This turnaround in Noun’s case is particular interesting in light of the fact that in its subsequent decision -- Ieng’s case – the PTC scaled said argument back down to that of Kaing’s case[6] leaving out its own admission in Noun’s case that “the risk of flight cannot be evaluated solely on the basis of the gravity of the crimes and possible sentence”.

The Chamber rejected the defense’s argument that Kaing would not be able to flee the ECCC jurisdiction due to lack of means to do so (such a passport, money, etc). The judges argued that they believed that even absent such means Kaing would be able to cross the border illegally or hide himself in Cambodia, “as he did before”[7]. PTC, in respect to the latter, omitted several crucial circumstances which existed during the time Kaing, in the opinion of the Chamber, successfully hid himself in Cambodia and the present time. One such fact is that when Kaing previously “hid” himself there was a certain commotion in Cambodian society caused by the ongoing civil war which made it possible. Another fact is that no one had lost sight of Kaing during this period besides the researchers to whose work the Chamber is referring[8]. Yet another, and perhaps most important, fact is that no one was looking for Kaing prior to 1999 which explains why he could “hide” for such a extended period of time and so successfully. This of course would not be the case if he fled or attempted to flee now, if released pending trial. One fairly recent case of an ex-Khmer Rouge fugitive, Chhouk Rin, is a good example of the Cambodian police’s ability to locate fugitives, even if it takes time and even if they are hiding in a familiar terrain and with a lot of support from the local population[9]. Unlike Rin, however, Kaing does not enjoy the support of the population of any part of Cambodia and is extremely unlikely to be aided and abetted by his former colleagues. These are well-established facts which the PTC chose not to take into consideration.

In Noun’s case and for lack of a history of “hiding”, the PTC outlandishly asserted that Noun’s exercise of his right to remain silent is not consistent with his alleged willingness to participate in the proceedings[10] which coupled with the earlier discussed length of sentence argument amounts to the PTC’s purported satisfaction of the sub-prong at hand.

In Ieng’s case, the Chamber relied on a theory that Ieng had “connections”[11] in Pailin which could help her flee across the border into Thailand if released pending trial. The Chamber agreed with the defense’s argument that “the Charged person could have attempted to flee before”[12], but contended that “the situation is no longer the same now that she is under investigation before the ECCC”[13]. The PTC did not care to elaborate what makes the present situation different from that of June, 2006 when the ECCC judges were sworn in and when it became clear that the process would go ahead. Ieng thus had exactly one year between the beginning of the process and her arrest[14] to make relevant arrangements, had she desired to flee. In addition, although it could not be ascertained who, besides Kaing, the tribunal would charge until the relevant information was made officially public, such information was leaked to the press and other informal networks from the outset of prosecutorial investigations[15] and of which Ieng was doubtless aware. Although there had been a question about whether charges would be brought against Ieng Thirith prior the inception of the tribunal, there was no question that such charges would be mounted against her husband, Ieng Sary. If the couple therefore had intended to flee across the border and seek shelter in Thailand or elsewhere, they would have had more than sufficient reason to do so before the establishment of the ECCC or after word of prosecutorial investigations was leaked out to the press at the latest[16].
Conclusion

In sum, several factors have contributed to the three denials of appeal of pre-trial detention handed down by the Pre-Trial Chamber thus far. The underpinning factor can be traced back to the fact that the ECCC, as a whole, acted ultra vires at the time of its inception to create rules of procedure – known as the Internal Rules (IRs) which did not fully conform either to the existing Cambodian criminal procedure law or to the then draft criminal procedure law which has since been signed into law. Once the IRs were established with them a new pre-trial detention test was established. Although the content of such test was prima facie reasonable, the drafters kept out an important principle of pre-trial detention enshrined in Cambodian law: pre-trial release must be the rule whereas pre-trial detention an exception. The PTC chose to follow suit and ignore this principle of Cambodian and international law too. In its application of the pre-trial detention test, the PTC went to great lengths to justify the pre-trial detention of Kaing, Noun and Ieng. The PTC judges rejected valid international precedents without providing counterarguments, used non-academic sources of information to support their arguments, placed an insurmountable burden on the accused to account for third parties' potential feelings and future decisions based on such feelings, used the decision to exercise particular rights of the accused against the accused, and largely ignored the realities of the current balance of political power in contemporary Cambodia and the sheer absence of political support the accused commanded in it. On its rampage to ensure that every argument for pre-trial release is defeated regardless of its merits, the Chamber warped the pre-trial detention test of the IRs to have them mean something different every time they were applied thus effectively denying the accused a consistent application of the law. In cases where all else failed and the PTC was clutching at straws, this chamber's judges never failed to fall back on the "instability in Cambodian society" argument without referencing this assertion or employing other ways of justifying it.

Writing a minority argument in one of the most recent decisions[1] of the United States Supreme Court, Justice Scalia said "the Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today" speaking of the decision on the extraterritorial reach of the habeas corpus privilege with which he strongly disagreed. This statement resonates in Cambodia and fully applies to what the PTC has done in the last ¾ of a year. The PTC's detention-driven approach is particularly unfortunate in this country in the wake of the existence of a glimmer of hope that had come with the passage of the new criminal procedure law and its principle that pre-trial release must be the rule and pre-trial detention an exception.
For a short while there, there was hope that the new law and its broad dissemination would help break away from decades of automatic and undisputed pre-trial detention practiced in Cambodia. The PTC threw a monkey-wrench into those plans and robbed Cambodia of this chance by greatly undermining the expectations many in the legal profession associated with the passage of the new law and the precedents that would be established by the ECCC. Instead of alleviating -- as it had been expected in the period leading up to the establishment of the ECCC -- these precedents will exacerbate the situation of the accused in Cambodia and make pre-trial release a virtual impossibility. These precedents, communicated to the Cambodian judiciary, will thwart the ongoing non-governmental efforts at bringing sense and coherence to the judicial ordering of pre-trial detention. The future accused and their families will doubtless "live to regret" the PTC's last ¾ of a year of precedent-setting.
Conclusion

In sum, several factors have contributed to the three denials of appeal of pre-trial detention handed down by the Pre-Trial Chamber thus far. The underpinning factor can be traced back to the fact that the ECCC, as a whole, acted ultra vires at the time of its inception to create rules of procedure – known as the Internal Rules (IRs) which did not fully conform either to the existing Cambodian criminal procedure law or to the then draft criminal procedure law which has since been signed into law. Once the IRs were established with them a new pre-trial detention test was established. Although the content of such test was prima facie reasonable, the drafters kept out an important principle of pre-trial detention enshrined in Cambodian law: pre-trial release must be the rule whereas pre-trial detention an exception. The PTC chose to follow suit and ignore this principle of Cambodian and international law too. In its application of the pre-trial detention test, the PTC went to great lengths to justify the pre-trial detention of Kaing, Noun and Ieng. The PTC judges rejected valid international precedents without providing counterarguments, used non-academic sources of information to support their arguments, placed an insurmountable burden on the accused to account for third parties' potential feelings and future decisions based on such feelings, used the decision to exercise particular rights of the accused against the accused, and largely ignored the realities of the current balance of political power in contemporary Cambodia and the sheer absence of political support the accused commanded in it. On its rampage to ensure that every argument for pre-trial release is defeated regardless of its merits, the Chamber warped the pre-trial detention test of the IRs to have them mean something different every time they were applied thus effectively denying the accused a consistent application of the law. In cases where all else failed and the PTC was clutching at straws, this chamber's judges never failed to fall back on the "instability in Cambodian society" argument without referencing this assertion or employing other ways of justifying it.

Writing a minority argument in one of the most recent decisions[1] of the United States Supreme Court, Justice Scalia said "the Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today" speaking of the decision on the extraterritorial reach of the habeas corpus privilege with which he strongly disagreed. This statement resonates in Cambodia and fully applies to what the PTC has done in the last ¾ of a year. The PTC's detention-driven approach is particularly unfortunate in this country in the wake of the existence of a glimmer of hope that had come with the passage of the new criminal procedure law and its principle that pre-trial release must be the rule and pre-trial detention an exception. For a short while there, there was hope that the new law and its broad dissemination would help break away from decades of automatic and undisputed pre-trial detention practiced in Cambodia. The PTC threw a monkey-wrench into those plans and robbed Cambodia of this chance by greatly undermining the expectations many in the legal profession associated with the passage of the new law and the precedents that would be established by the ECCC. Instead of alleviating -- as it had been expected in the period leading up to the establishment of the ECCC -- these precedents will exacerbate the situation of the accused in Cambodia and make pre-trial release a virtual impossibility. These precedents, communicated to the Cambodian judiciary, will thwart the ongoing non-governmental efforts at bringing sense and coherence to the judicial ordering of pre-trial detention. The future accused and their families will doubtless "live to regret" the PTC's last ¾ of a year of precedent-setting.

[1] Boumediene v Bush, 553 U. S. (2008)
[1] Supra Note 9, para. 38
[2] Supra Note 9, paras. 44-46
[3] Ibid, para. 39
[4] Ibid.
[5] Supra Note 10, para. 66
[6] Supra 11, para. 53.
[7] Supra Note 9, para. 40
[8] There is no evidence to believe that journalists Dunlop and Thayer – on whose work the PTC relies for support of this argument – made any effort to interview anyone Kaing had worked with or may have known between 1979 and 1999.
[9] See ‘Khmer Rouge Backpacker Killer Caught’, News article (Agence France-Presse), available online at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=68794 (visited 18 July 2008).
[10] Supra Note 10, para. 69
[11] Supra Note 11, para. 54
[12] Ibid, para. 58
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ieng Thirith was arrested on 12 November, 2007
[15] See ‘Names of the Suspects Get Leaked to the Press’, News article, available online at http://ecccreparations.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html (visited 18 July 2008).
[16] 25 July, 2007



Thursday, August 7, 2008

KRT funding frozen over fresh corruption allegations

By Craig Guthrie
The Mekong Times
Thursday, August 07, 2008

With less than a month until its first trial, allega­tions of corruption made by staff at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) are be­ing reviewed by the UN and as a result its funding is being withheld, said UN and court officials.

"More than one allegation was submitted in June and will be sent to a UN oversight committee in New York," said Peter Foster, a spokesman for the tribunal's UN side, stress­ing that the complaints are being reviewed and not inves­tigated.

However, the UN Develop­ment Program (UNDP) said in a statement yesterday that it is taking the new allegations "very seriously," and is re­viewing the implications with donors so they can agree how to move forward.

Funding for July was al­ready held up as the UNDP was awaiting a spending plan from the court when "new al­legations of kickbacks arose," it said. The UNDP added it is seeking a quick resolution of the issue "without sacrificing the integrity of the funds sup­porting [the KRT]."

Helen Jarvis, the KRT's public affairs officer, said that it "was a bit of a shock," that the salaries for around 250 Cambodian employees had not arrived, adding the spend­ing plan was sent to the UNDP in mid-July.

This should have given the UNDP plenty of time to orga­nize payment, she said, add­ing that she hopes the issue is resolved swiftly.

Legal watchdog the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) alleged in February last year that staff from the Cambodian side of the court were being required to kickback "signifi­cant" amounts of their sala­ries to government officials to keep or attain their positions.

Although a UNDP-sanctioned human resources re­view carried out earlier this year was declared a success and presented to international donors, the OSJI renewed calls for a probe into the potential kickback scandal in May.

"The [court] has not yet ad­opted mechanisms, such as ... a whistleblower mechanism, that adequately address con­cerns about improprieties such as salary kickbacks," said the group in its monthly tribunal report.

In mid-June a memo was plastered on the walls at the tribunal's offices advising that should any "case of cor­rupt activity arise such as taking deductions from sala­ries or other extortion/bribes, officials or staff must report these to the Complaints Com­mittee..."

It added that KRT officials and staff may not solicit or ac­cept any gift or other item of monetary value from any em­ployee or any person seeking employment at the tribunal.

Foster said it was unclear if the memo had been the reason behind the court staff coming forward. "It could be any com­bination of reasons," he said.

Heather Ryan, the OSJI rep­resentative in Cambodia, said it was "not surprising" that there had been new corrup­tion allegations, but added that it was encouraging that the court now has a system in place for complaints to be submitted.

The allegations of graft come just a few weeks before the court is expected to hold its first public trial, with for­mer S-21 torture center chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, facing charges of crimes against humanity.

Extracted from The Mekong Times
Issue No. 128
Thursday, August 07, 2008

Cambodian tribunal hit by new kickback allegations

Cambodian tribunal hit by new kickback allegations
PR-inside.om
© AP
2008-08-06 16:19:04

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia's genocide tribunal has been hit by new corruption allegations, compelling foreign donors to withhold more than US$300,000 from the proceedings pending a review of the claims, United Nations and tribunal officials said Wednesday.

The new scandal came as the U.N.-assisted tribunal prepared for its first trial, next month, for
atrocities allegedly committed during the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, who are blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
Cambodian and U.N.-appointed staff jointly run the tribunal with two separate budget lines supported by contributions from international donors. In a Wednesday statement to The Associated Press, the United Nations Development Program said it was withholding funding for operating expenses and salaries for Cambodian staffers at the tribunal. It did not provide an amount. It said new kickback allegations surfaced in late June, but provided no other details.


Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the tribunal's Cambodian side, said she has not seen any allegations and could not comment on whether they had merit.None of the 250 Cambodian staff members have yet received their July salaries, she said, adding that the total payroll for the national personnel is about US$300,000 a month. Aside from salaries, it was unclear how much money was being withheld. «We hope the situation will be urgently solved. Staff need to be paid and indeed deserve to be paid for their work,» she said in an e-mail.

Peter Foster, spokesman for the tribunal's United Nations' side, declined to discuss details of the allegations but said they were brought up after June 25 by «more than one» person.He said the allegations had been submitted to a U.N. official in Cambodia and were being reviewed by the U.N.'s oversight and investigative services office in New York.The UNDP statement said funding for the month of July was initially held up to await submission from the Cambodian side of a spending plan, «which is a standard procedure to preserve the integrity of the funds.


«Following this, new allegations of kickbacks arose,» the UNDP said.It did not specify how much money was withheld or provide details of the kickbacks.«We want to ensure that donor funds are used for their intended purpose,» it said. «Our aim is to move forward with the work of the tribunal, without sacrificing the integrity of the funds supporting it.

It is the second time the tribunal has faced a graft scandal. In 2007, allegations arose that Cambodian tribunal staff had paid kickbacks in exchange for their jobs. The tribunal's Cambodian side dismissed the allegations as unsubstantiated.

Disclaimer: This news article is copyrighted by Associated Press and published by PR-inside.com. If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact ap-online.com. PR-inside can not assist or help you giving information about this News articles.

UN Reviewing Reports of Tribunal Corruption

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh05 August 2008

A UN oversight committee is reviewing allegations of corruption from Cambodian staff at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.


The review comes following allegations brought forward in June.


"They came forward themselves, and we applaud them for their bravery and for their willingness," the spokesman, Peter Foster, said. "It is not only important for the United Nations, it's important for the government of Cambodia and for the entire court. At UNDP and the donors, all of them have said that corruption and irregularities will not be tolerated."


The tribunal monitoring group Open Society Justice Initiative in 2007 raised allegations of kickbacks, claiming some Cambodian officials allegedly paid money to join the hybrid tribunal.


"The file is now in New York and is being reviewed," Foster said. "What is being reviewed is to make sure this allegation has merit or does not have merit. And then action will be taken based on the review."


More than one allegation of irregularities and corruption has been filed, he said, declining to comment further.

ECCC Defense Section Support (DSS) Chief Mysteriously Quits

Resignation of defense section chief not to delay KRT
The Mekong Time
Wednesday, August 06, 2008

The recent resignation of Rupert Skilbeck, the head of the Defense Support Section at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT), will not affect the court's momentum as it heads into its crucial trials phase, said a court official.

Rupert Skilbeck has been offered a job with the legal watchdog NGO the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and tendered his resignation, confirmed Peter Foster, the spokesman for the court's UN side.

Richard Rogers, the current deputy of the section and a former legal officer at war crimes tribunals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, will now take charge until the court can hire his long-term replacement, added Foster.

"Rupert has been here since the beginning, but his departure will not affect the court's progress, as this is an international hybrid tribunal and we are well prepared to deal with the rotation of staff," Foster said.

OSJI last year alleged that Cambodian employees at the KRT are often required to kickback part of their salaries to senior Cambodian tribunal per­sonnel, leading the court to conduct an indepen­dent human resources review which it declared a success.

However, the watchdog renewed calls for a probe in May: "The review did not purport to investigate or draw any conclusions about the existence of al­leged salary kickbacks," it said in its monthly re­port on the trials.

Heather Ryan, OSJI's trial monitor in Cambodia, confirmed that Skilbeck will be working on global issues and not monitoring the KRT in his new role, as this would present a professional conflict.

The trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, is ex­pected to being in late-September or early October, senior court officials have said.

Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary spent his third day in Phnom Penh's Calmette hos­pital yesterday after blood was found in his urine, confirmed Foster. "There are no emergencies, he [Ieng Sary] is just being monitored," he said.

Extracted from the Mekong Times
Issue No. 127
Wednesday, August 06, 2008

A New Blog on the ECCC

Cambodia: Blogging on Genocide
by Geoffrey Cain

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 @ 13:21 UTC

After graduating from Brown University in 2004, the articulate, cunning Elena Lesley was awarded a Henry Luce Scholarship to Cambodia to write for The Phnom Penh Post. With a long-time interest in Asia, it seemed like a good match. But knee-deep in a society scourged by years of civil war and gut-wrenching poverty, the experience quickly proved eye-opening.
She vowed to return.

Elena then spent three years in the U.S. reporting for St. Petersburg Times in Florida, but found herself frustrated at the lack of news coverage of Cambodia outside the country. Hearing that Cambodia's genocide tribunal was underway, she returned to Phnom Penh on the ultra-prestigious Fulbright grant to blog for the Post.

Now, she speaks with Global Voices author Geoffrey Cain about her blog, the tribunal, and the challenges it faces.

From your personal observations as a journalist-blogger, what challenges does the Khmer Rouge Tribunal face in bringing the perpetrators to justice?

Of course, there’s the issue everyone keeps raising: age. Since most of the defendants are in their 70s and 80s and not in particularly good health, there is a great deal of concern that some could die before trials begin. This is probably what worries most of the Cambodians I have discussed the tribunal with. While a trial for torture chief “Comrade Duch” could begin as early as September, any predictions for the other defendants are somewhat uncertain at this point.

Part of the ambiguity stems from the relatively complicated nature of the cases against the four other defendants. I’m certainly no expert on the minutiae of each case, but Duch’s is apparently more straightforward – after all, he has cooperated with the court to a certain extent.

There is another issue at play in “bringing perpetrators to justice,” and it involves the scope of the prosecutions. When the United Nations and Cambodian government were negotiating the tribunal’s creation, Prime Minister Hun Sen (himself a former member of the Khmer Rouge) insisted that only a handful of the most senior leaders be tried. Critics of the Prime Minister have claimed that he intentionally narrowed the scope of prosecutions so as not to implicate any former Khmers Rouge who now hold high positions in his government.

When you think about all the people who were involved in planning and implementing Khmer Rouge policies, five defendants seems like a very small number.

Is the tribunal addressing these challenges effectively, or is complete justice a lost cause 28 years after the atrocities concluded?

Well, what do you mean by “complete justice?” Or even “justice” for that matter? I don’t think the tribunal is a lost cause, but I do believe it is somewhat symbolic and abstract.

If you look at it for what it is, literally, the tribunal is a punitive process for a very small group of people. However, there are many organizations that are using these legal proceedings as a jumping off point for discussion and education, both of which are sorely needed in Cambodia.
Supporters of the tribunal often argue that it can set a new standard for the Cambodian judiciary and help end the country’s “culture of impunity.” Both are very ambitious goals, and while I hope the tribunal helps move Cambodia toward a more just and accountable society, it’s impossible to predict how much impact it will have in these areas.

Which is why I believe educational and outreach efforts related to the tribunal are of primary importance. Many Cambodians have never truly come to terms with their experiences under the Khmer Rouge. At the same time, around 60 percent of Cambodians were born after the Pol Pot era and have little knowledge about the period. While younger generations may not realize it, the legacy of that disastrous social experiment is still very much alive in their country.

The court, along with various other organizations, has been coordinating outreach efforts, but it’s a tall order. Accessibility, both practically and theoretically, is problematic. The location of the court itself is hugely inconvenient. At least a 40-minute drive from central Phnom Penh, the judicial complex’s remote location is no doubt a deterrent for many who would otherwise attend proceedings. In terms of the substance of the court’s work, concepts and arguments are highly abstract and during this phase, the “investigative” portion, little information is made available to the public. Trying to engage a largely agrarian population – many of whom are just struggling to survive – under these conditions is, to say the least, difficult. Which is why, in my opinion, more resources should be devoted to such efforts.

In addition to what the tribunal can do for Cambodia, there’s also the issue of setting a precedent for the international community. As one Khmer Rouge survivor told me: “It is very, very important to put these people on trial as an example to other dictators. You cannot abuse people this way and get away with it – even 30 years later.”

How do you tread the line so tactfully between blogging and journalism? Do you blog about the tribunal differently than, say, writing for a traditional newspaper?

Writing for the blog is definitely different from writing for a newspaper. The tone can be a lot more casual and each entry doesn’t require a traditional “news hook,” as an article might. So there’s much more flexibility and posts can range from pretty standard news updates to anything international-justice related that I find interesting.

Of course, in the blog I’m also able to inject some of my own thoughts and opinions. To be honest though, I try to keep this to a minimum. My main goal is to convey tribunal developments and issues surrounding the court to an international audience – not necessarily to weigh in on all of them.

Some say professional journalists and bloggers operate in separate worlds. Do you think journalists should embrace blogs more enthusiastically for reporting? Can blogging enhance traditional journalism?

Definitely. It’s silly to say professional journalists and bloggers operate in separate worlds because, really, a blog can be whatever you want it to be. It’s just a question of format. Many people seem to be under the impression that blogging is somehow inherently different from mainstream journalism and that blogs are synonymous with personal musings and ranting.

They can be used for these purposes, and that’s totally legitimate. However, they can also be used simply to report news or to supplement what appears in a publication’s print version.

Do you think blogging has potential as a “new face” of interactive journalism, in our age of Web 2.0, interactivity, and social networking websites?

I certainly think blogs are a convenient format for conveying news and ideas. Whether they will serve as spaces for valuable online interactivity and analysis, I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait and see how much substantive discussion they can foster.