Blog entries tagged ECCC

Transitional Justice event at Columbia

Elena Lesley — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:51:50 +0100

For those of you in the New York area, a series of panels on justice issues in Southeast Asia will be held at Columbia University this coming Friday and Saturday. A Saturday afternoon panel will focus on Cambodia and feature presentations from Sophal Ear (U.S. Naval Postgraduate School), John Ciorciari (University of Michigan), Alex Hinton (Rutgers University) and Lorraine Paterson (Cornell University). More information is available here.

"Disloyal" ECCC staffers and the debate over additional prosecutions

Elena Lesley — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:00:00 +0100

Like many journalists, I received a somewhat peculiar message from the Co-Investigating Judges on Thursday. It read that the judges, "have credible information that the content of the Second Introductory Submission which is classified as confidential, has been divulged by a disloyal staff member of the ECCC," and issued a warning "that anyone publishing information from this confidential document is liable to be subjected to proceedings for Interference with the Administration of Justice purs...

New Rutgers magazine feature on ECCC

Elena Lesley — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:51:27 +0100

In the first issue of a new Rutgers University magazine (disclaimer: with which I am involved), an undergraduate student describes his experience working with DC-Cam's Victim Participation Team. You can read it here.

Cambodia and the tribunal will certainly be featured in upcoming issues as well, as Rutgers has an active relationship with DC-Cam and a number of students who are interested in the country. The magazine is published by the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolu...

Remembering Reach Sambath

Elena Lesley — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:27:00 +0100

In light of the recent passing of ECCC head of Public Affairs Reach Sambath, I wanted to post a link to an article I wrote back after he assumed his position in 2008. You can read it here. I was extremely impressed by the effort he made to bring Cambodians to the tribunal, which had previously been somewhat sparsely attended.

I'm sure he will be greatly missed by his friends, colleagues, students and, of course, family.

At the same time, it is true that Duch has cooperated with the court, probably does not present a threat to society if ever released and most likely, given his age, will e...

Rutgers Law event to probe ECCC

Elena Lesley — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:30:09 +0100

The Rutgers, Newark Law School will host a symposium this Friday, April 2, featuring an extensive panel discussion about the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Speakers will include Khmer Rouge survivor and activist Theary Seng, Fulbright Fellow Randle DeFalco, DC-Cam Legal Associates Jared Watkins and Andrew Diamond, and others.

The panel ("The ECCC: The Issues and Challenges of Prosecuting the Senior Leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime") is part of the larger event "Human and Economic Dimensions of...

High-tech court

Elena Lesley — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:10:51 +0100

A very exciting development for those of us trying to keep up with ECCC developments from abroad: the tribunal has launched a “virtual court.”

"The Virtual Tribunal will be a groundbreaking way for the [tribunal] to digitally make available to the public all trial related materials such as decisions, filings, trial transcripts and video of the court proceedings," according to Voice of America.

U.S. univerities partnering with the effort include Stanford and the...

Ambassador says tribunal "worth saving"

Elena Lesley — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:06:34 +0100

Last week, I had the opportunity to hear Clint Williamson, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for war crimes issues, speak to a crowd of Rutgers students and professors about international justice efforts in a number of different countries. While it wasn't the sole focus of his presentation, Williamson did discuss the Khmer Rouge tribunal, and I was pleased with what he had to say.

Americans not following tribunal developments, according to NY Times

Elena Lesley — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:33:29 +0100

A recent commentary in the New York Times describes the general lack of attention the Khmer Rouge tribunal has received in the United States. I have to say that, sadly, since I returned to the U.S. in August, I have found this largely to be the case.

It is particularly inexcusable considering the role America played in decimating the country and creating circumstances that allowed the Khmer Rouge to come to power in the first place.

As Richard Bernstein writes, the lack of atten...

Cadres face prospect of more arrests

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:39:27 +0100

A feature that ran in Tuesday's Post.

By Robbie Corey-Boulet and May Titthara

At the age of 14, Out Moeun left her family home in Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, to work for Khmer Rouge Central Committee member Chhit Choeun, alias Ta Mok.

Though it was 1987, a full eight years after the regime fell from power, units of Khmer Rouge soldiers were still scattered throughout Cambodia, and she was one of many girls recruited to supply them with weapons. Ev...

Khmer Rouge survivors in Oregon can offer evidence to tribunal

Elena Lesley — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:10:00 +0100

The Cambodian Diaspora Victims' Participation Project will be holding workshops in Portland this weekend to show Khmer Rouge survivors how they can file testimony with the tribunal. More information can be found here. The workshops will be held Saturday and Sunday, from 9:30am to 3pm at 10301 NE Glisan St. in Portland.

A forum for healing in Portland, Ore.

Elena Lesley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:22:58 +0100

I have been on the road for awhile, so this post is late in coming, but I wanted to make note of a wonderful event that was held last month in Portland, Ore.: a "Collective Sharing and Healing Forum" sponsored by the Cambodian-American Community of Oregon. It is the second event of its kind in Portland and happened to coincide with a trip to my hometown.

I have to admit, before I...

KRT in brief

Elena Lesley — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:29:11 +0100

In recent days, scholar David Chandler has testified to Khmer Rouge stupidity, and a former S-21 gravedigger has described how he helped dispose of bodies.

"The court is yours," Public Affairs head tells Cambodians

Elena Lesley — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:22:20 +0100

Luckily, it seems that our webmaster at the Post has been able to work out some of the kinks with the new format, and I am able to post entries again. I still need to correct formatting issues with old entries, but this will be done in the near future.

Since I last wrote, the court has continued interviewing former S-21 staffers. Recaps of these testimonies are a...

Games at Tuol Sleng

Elena Lesley — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Sorry for the inconsistent posting and the recent lack of links and photos. The Post website is still being upgraded and we're trying to sort everything out. However, if you would like to see photos from the most recent days of testimony, you can check out the ECCC's new Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/krtribunal/

Former S-21 guard Him Huy finished his testimony Monday, which Comrade Duch agreed was largely accurate except for a few "minimal shortcomings." Most notably, Him claimed he s...

Executions at Choeung Ek "took hours," former guard tells court

Elena Lesley — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Him Huy gave a chilling account Thursday of executions at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Unlike former S-21 deputy Mam Nay, whom Comrade Duch accused of withholding information, Him was very forthcoming in his testimony.

Tuol Sleng detainees destined for the Killing Fields were generally loaded onto trucks around 8pm, under cover of darkness, Him told judges. If they asked where they were being taken, staff had been instructed by deputy chairman Comrade Hor to say they were “goin...

Former S-21 guard Him Huy testifies

Elena Lesley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0100

It was a moving -- and disturbing -- day at the court as Him Huy offered detailed testimony about operations at S-21 and the Killing Fields. I will post about this tomorrow ...

Mam Nay's regret: that the Vietnamese defeated the Khmer Rouge

Elena Lesley — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Former S-21 deputy Mam Nay did indeed begin testifying today, although his much-anticipated appearance was somewhat anticlimactic. For the most part, the 76-year-old, bundled in a krama and gloves, claimed he couldn't remember much about his work under Comrade Duch.

He told judges that, despite his status as an interrogator at S-21, he did not torture prisoners. Moreover, he claimed that the detainees brought to him looked neither malnourished nor mistreated -- a comment met with disbelief...