The Phnom Penh Post

International Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley gave an interesting presentation at Rutgers on Wednesday, but unfortunately, he did not want to comment on the record about allegations of political interference at the tribunal (particularly in relation to Cases 003 and 004). It would be safe to say, however, in the comments he did make, Cayley expressed "very grave concerns" about the conduct of Cases 003 and 004, as reported in today's Post.

Moreover, Cayley referenced the recent decisions by the Pre-Trial Chamber related to his appeal against a retraction order related to Case 003. Although the chamber found against his appeal, the vote regarding the civil party application of New Zealander Rob Hamill was split along national/international lines, with international judges writing a substantial dissenting opinion questioning the integrity of the Co-Investigating Judges' conduct in Case 003. Read more about it here.

In a public statement released Thursday, Cayley quoted extensively from this dissenting opinion, listing the following findings of the international judges:

Philippe Greciano, a French lawyer who joined the defence team for former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan last year, says he is stepping down. Here is the statement from Mr. Greciano:

"Professor Philippe Gréciano completes mission of international counsel in the defense team of Mr. Khieu Samphan, former Khmer Rouge head of state. Specialist in criminal law and human rights, he brought his expertise to clarify the legal debate in the interests of truth and reconciliation for the Kingdom of Cambodia. The defense team thanks to the quality of his work and wish him continued success in its activities."

Khieu Samphan will continue to be represented by Cambodian lawyer Sa Sovan and the well-known (and famously provocative) French lawyer Jacques Verges. 

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/liqgy1O0TSc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

For those in the capital, Meta House on Sothearos Blvd. will tonight be screening Facing Genocide, a documentary on former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan filmed ahead of his arrest in 2007. Here's the synopsis from Meta House:

"Khieu Samphan was one of the closest collaborators of Pol Pot and the one the fronted the KR movement. He has succeeded in living his life without being held accountable for the Khmer Rouge crimes, until his arrest in 2007. Swedish filmmakers D. Aronowitsch & S. Lindberg have followed him two years before his arrest. FACING GENOCIDE (94 mins, 2010) is a search into the personality of Khieu Samphan. The film gives insight into his mindset and his close relation to Pol Pot. It is a unique story about an ex-leader, the time before his arrest and before he is put on trial. Film is presented by lawyer/book author Theary Seng, one of the film’s protagonists."

First of all, this blog has been down for the past few months and posts from earlier this year have been deleted due to some combination of the PPPost site being hacked and our transition to new software. We apologize for these difficulties, which we hope will not be repeated.

In tribunal news today, the court has announced the date of the initial hearing second case – featuring Khmer Rouge Brother No 2 Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and social action minister Ieng Thirith – will open on June 27. At this hearing, according to a document posted on the court’s website today, the parties will submit proposed witness lists and raise preliminary objections, and the lead civil party lawyers will offer initial specifications of the reparations awards they will be seeking in the case.

 So-called “substantive hearings”, featuring witness testimony and oral argument, are likely to begin in August.

Dr. Francis Deng, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, and Benny Widyono, former Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cambodia, will discuss the implications of the tribunal's second case this Thursday at Rutgers University, Newark. Detailed information about the event can be found here. I plan to attend and will report highlights of the conversation.

A busy day today for prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, as they gave notice that they will appeal the judgment handed down against Duch last month and filed their final submission for Case 002. As the Co-Investigating Judges had indicated earlier this year, Duch will not be indicted in Case 002. 

Click here to read the notice of appeal, which argues that the Trial Chamber gave "insufficient weight to the gravity of Duch's crimes" and weighed mitigating circumstances too heavily. You can read more about both the appeal and the final submission in tomorrow's Post.

In the wake of Duch’s verdict, commentary has been pouring in about the appropriateness of the sentence and future of the tribunal itself. I believe much of the outrage surrounding the sentence underscores conflicting expectations regarding the tribunal’s mission: While it has a relatively limited prosecutorial mandate, the court has been tasked, in the minds of many observers and victims, with helping complete a more truthful narrative of the Khmer Rouge period and with fostering national reconciliation. Yet these are objectives that no court can truly attain given the gravity of the crimes committed.

As scholar Peter Maguire wrote in Wednesday’s International Herald Tribune, “the biggest problem facing the ECCC is living up to its own hype. Claims that such trials can lead to healing, closure, truth and reconciliation are speculative at best. How does one measure ‘healing, closure and reconciliation?’ While most Cambodians would like to see the Khmer Rouge leaders punished, they’ve grown used to seeing common thieves and their government’s political opponents suffer far worse punishment than that meted out to Duch.”

Yet, Duch is only one person – a relatively low-ranking Khmer Rouge cadre at that – and nothing done to him can make up for the thousands of lives lost. As television news director Huy Vannak told the New York Times, “even if we chop him up into two million pieces it will not bring our family members back.”

For those who are in Phnom Penh, award-winning documentary Enemies of the People will be showing at Meta House's new location on Sothearos Blvd this week. Screenings are scheduled for 6:30 and 8:30 PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with filmmakers Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath in attendance to take questions. Click here for a story the Post ran on the film earlier this month, including details on efforts by the Khmer Rouge tribunal to add it as evidence in the file for Case 002.

Friday's Post carries a story about Michael Nolan, an American who has applied to be a civil party in Case 002. Michael's brother, McKinley, deserted from the US Army in Vietnam and ended up in Cambodia, where he was likely murdered by the Khmer Rouge in 1977. American filmmaker Henry Corra has made a documentary about the Nolans' saga  - check out the official site here, or watch the preview below.

For those in the Washington, DC area, the film will be premiering next month at the SilverDocs film festival.

I had the opportunity to attend the Rutgers Law event in early April I posted about previously, but have not had the chance until now to write about it. After a keynote speech from activist Theary Seng, several law students presented papers specifically addressing issues at the ECCC.

I was particularly interested in the paper presented by Andrew Diamond -- "Victims Once Again? Civil Party Participation Before the ECCC."

Throughout the first trial, there was a clear and constant tension between the responsibility to represent civil parties in court and the need to conduct an efficient trial. The process was nowhere near as streamlined or organized as it could have been. With the court’s second case looming, and a dramatically larger pool of civil parties demanding representation, the court felt it had to alter the rules of participation.