The Phnom Penh Post

In today's Post, Cambodian staffers at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal describe how they are forced to kick back a portion of their salaries to higher-ups at the UN-backed court. It's a damning article for the ECCC.

"I can tell you until the day you close the door, the corruption will still go on," a staffer told the Post.

The article also quotes Andrew Ianuzzi, a legal consultant for Nuon Chea's defense team, saying it appears some UN officials are involved in covering up the court's corrupt practices: "It is very damaging for the credibility of the tribunal. Why are international officers protecting corrupt Cambodian officials?"

For the second time this week, judges at the tribunal adjourned and rescheduled an appeal hearing. Khieu Samphan's appeal against extension of provisional detention, along with additional translation arguments, will be hashed out April 3.

Khieu requested the hearing be delayed because his infamous French lawyer, Jacques Verges, was unable to make it to court. The reason for his absence is somewhat unclear.

Thursday afternoon, the court notified journalists that Khieu's hearing would begin at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. because Verges' flight had been delayed. But as the hearing opened Friday morning, Verges had not yet arrived.

In what is becoming something of a pattern at the tribunal, Ieng Sary was unable to participate in his appeal hearing today due to ill health. As a result, judges adjourned court at mid-day and have scheduled another hearing arguing the extension of Ieng Sary's provisional detention for April 2.

In June, the first day of an appeal hearing for Ieng Sary ended early when the defendant said he did not have the strength to continue. At that time, he complained of dizziness, fatigue and intermittent coughing.

Today, according to an early morning report from the detention center's doctor, Ieng Sary was not well enough to appear in court at all. The 83-year-old had been rushed to Calmette Hospital Monday evening after passing blood in his urine and returned to the ECCC Wednesday afternoon. Court officials would not specify the symptoms that kept Ieng Sary out of court on Thursday.

The UN and Cambodian Government released a joint statement Monday announcing "important progress" in the construction of anti-corruption mechanisms at the tribunal. But the Open Society Justice Initiative says it's not enough. The monitoring group claims the new plan is not significantly different from the safeguards that have been in place.

Perhaps the corruption issue will be discussed further at the tribunal's upcoming Plenary Session, which begins Monday.

Ieng Sary will go before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal tomorrow, just two days after his wife launched an angry tirade at the UN-backed court. During her own appeal hearing Tuesday, Ieng Thirith insisted she had no role in mass killings under the Khmer Rouge and warned that those who accused her of murder would be "cursed to the seventh level of hell." The outburst may lend credence to the defense's claim that Ieng Thirith's mental health is failing.

Meanwhile, Ieng Sary's lawyers will argue that their client is too sickly to remain in provisional detention. The 83-year-old has spent 46 days in the hospital during his pre-trial detention and was admitted once again Monday night after passing blood in his urine.

"The deteriorating health of Mr. Ieng Sary has a clear impact on his continued detention," the defendant's lawyers wrote in their appeal to the court.

After months of delays, judges at the tribunal have set a schedule for the first substantive hearing at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. While last week's Initial Hearing marked the official start of Comrade Duch's trial, it was a purely procedural event. As I've mentioned before, the real meat of the trial is yet to come.

According to the Trial Chamber's order, we can expect it in late March. The substantive hearing will begin Monday, March 30 at 10 a.m. and continue March 31 and April 1 at 9 a.m. From that point, proceedings will run every week, Monday through Thursday, beginning at 9 a.m.

Proceedings will not be held on national holidays and the court will observe two periods of rest, from April 13 to 17, and May 1 through 15. The current schedule only runs through July 2, and additional trial days will be determined at a later date.

* Khieu Samphan's lawyers lost an appeal Friday requesting that their client's entire case file be translated into French. Judges ruled that the appeal was inadmissible. While the court's translation rules allow for a number of primary documents to be translated, they do not require the translation of every document in a case file. Khieu's foreign lawyer, Jacques Verges, has continually argued that he cannot properly defend his client until the entire case file is translated into French.

* The Cambodian side of the tribunal is running out of money. According to local press reports, the court's Cambodian side could be bankrupt within the next few weeks. However, tribunal spokespeople remain confident that funding will come through.

* While the court's Cambodian side struggles financially, the UN side just received a pledge of $1.5-million from the United States. The U.S. made its first-ever donation to the court in September.

Last week, I had the chance to watch a journalist from the Toronto Star interview the parents of one of my longtime friends. I first met Seng Hongcheang and Sok Sihong when I came to Cambodia in 2004. Knowing I was here by myself, they generously accepted me into their large family, hosting me for countless dinners and weekend trips to the countryside. They took care of me. Hongcheang, a doctor, even offered me medical counsel and regularly replaced my Coca-Cola with tea, chastising me for my poor eating habits.

In all the time I've known them, we had never discussed the details of their time under the Khmer Rouge. Since Hongcheang spoke French and was a practicing doctor before the Khmer Rouge came to power -- he and Sihong, a midwife, met when they were working in the same hospital -- I assumed life in Democratic Kampuchea must have been tough. But finally hearing them recount their story of survival was a powerful experience.

It was heart wrenching to hear Hongcheang, a truly kind and gentle man, describe how he saw Khmer Rouge soldiers bludgeon an entire family to death in a pagoda. Sihong spoke less, because when she did, her eyes would well with tears and voice catch. After the Khmer Rouge came to power, she never saw her mother again. Every night she snuck into the forest to scavenge for anything her children could eat; "during that time, I never had any rest," she said, dabbing her eyes with a krama.

Even though the trial proper for "Comrade Duch" is expected to start around a month from now, that didn't stop journalists and spectators from flocking to the ECCC today for the torture chief's Initial Hearing. Foreigners and Cambodians packed the tribunal's main courtroom. Many came specifically to see Duch, who intently jotted notes during the procedural hearing and offered a traditional Som Pas to the audience whenever the court recessed.

During the morning session, Co-Prosecutor Robert Petit announced that he will once again raise the issue of Joint Criminal Enterprise in relation to Duch's case. Although the Pre-Trial Chamber already rejected a request that Duch be held accountable under the theory of JCE, Petit said the Trial Chamber would not be bound by this decision.

Lawyers and judges also reviewed new civil party requests, leading the defense to spar with prosecutors over whether a late application from professed Tuol Sleng survivor Norng Chan Pal should be considered by the chamber.

Court monitor ADHOC (the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association) has decried the tribunal's refusal to accept Tuol Sleng survivor Norng Chan Pal as a civil party in the case of "Comrade Duch."

Researchers for DC-Cam recently located Norng, one of five child survivors identified in archival footage of Tuol Sleng. He was detained there with his mother.

Despite his status as one of the torture center's few survivors, Norng has been told he cannot become a civil party in Duch's case. He missed the Feb. 2 filing deadline by two days.