Back online/Case 002 initial hearing set for June 27

Mon, 16 May 2011 13:52:09 +0100

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 s...

Pre-Trial Chamber rules on political interference

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:23:35 +0100

The Pre-Trial Chamber at the Khmer Rouge tribunal (ECCC).

In a decision published online today, the Khmer Rouge tribunal's Pre-Trial Chamber issued a rare split decision on whether an investigation into alleged political interference by the Cambodian government in the work of the court is warranted. International judges Rowan Downing and Cath...

Detention appeals denied

Mon, 03 May 2010 07:29:30 +0100

In public hearings at the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Friday, the pre-trial chamber judges upheld the extension of pre-trial detention for Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan for a third year after their arrest in November 2007. You can read more about it here, or check out the court's own website to read the full text of the judges' rulings on Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan.

Genocide charges against three suspects

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:22:19 +0100

The tribunal announced this week that genocide charges had for the first time been brought against three regime leaders: Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan.

The charges stem from the regime's treatment of Vietnamese and the Cham Muslim minority group.

Brother No 2 Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary, the regime's foreign minister, were informed of the charges during a meeting with investigating judges on Wednesday. Former head of state Khieu Samphan was informed Friday. A meeting with I...

Lawyers call for Lemonde's removal

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:15:54 +0100

My apologies for playing catch-up on this post. I am just returning from a trip to the provinces and was not around to cover two stories of note:

No. 1: On October 7, the tribunal made public six summons letters, dated September 25 and bearing the signature of International Co-Investigating Judge Marcel Lemonde, requesting that six government officials - Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Finance Minister Keat Chhon and two...

The world's first genocide trial, 30 years on

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:20:44 +0100

This past Wednesday marked the 30th anniversary of the People’s Revolutionary Tribunal, which found Pol Pot and Ieng Sary guilty of genocide and sentenced them to death in absentia.

I reached out to a handful of experts while reporting the story and because of space constraints was unable to include many interesting responses in the print version. I am reproducing some below:

Corruption could derail tribunal, defense lawyer says

Elena Lesley — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Allegations of corruption at the Khmer Rouge tribunal could cause investigative delays and possibly prompt the UN to withdraw its support from the court, defense attorney Michael Karnavas said Thursday.

"We don't know if six months or a year from now, this institution will be present," he told the Pre-Trial Chamber; the "ever-growing issue involving corruption and the courts" may convince donors to pull out of the process.

Thus, he reasoned, the chamber should release Ieng Sary, h...

Defense lawyers protest website restrictions

Elena Lesley — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:00:00 +0100

After being forced to remove documents from their self-published website, lawyers for Ieng Sary lodged an appeal last week against a recent "Confidentiality Order" from the Co-Investigating Judges.

The Co-Investigating Judges claimed the lawyers were posting documents that, if made public, would compromise the quality of judicial investigations at the tribunal. Lawyers temporarily removed several documents, but said they would fight back. In their appeal, filed March 10, they had tough...

Civil parties must keep quiet

Elena Lesley — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0100

The tribunal's fifth plenary wrapped up Friday, with participants issuing a statement about changes they had made to the court's Internal Rules. Among the amendments was a decision to bar civil parties from making their own legal submissions:

"Specifying that where Civil Parties are represented by a lawyer, it is the lawyer and not the Civil Par...

Court "failing in its role to keep the public informed"

Elena Lesley — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Defense lawyers at the ECCC and court monitors fired back at the tribunal yesterday, charging the court with a lack of transparency. On Tuesday, Co-Investigating Judges had ordered Ieng Sary's defense lawyers to remove allegedly confidential documents from their website.

"Despite the confidentiality of the investigation, the ECCC is a public institution. The OCIJ is clearly failing in its role to keep the public informed about developments in the investigation," Andrew Ianuzzi, legal a...

Defense lawyers ordered to censor website

Elena Lesley — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:00:00 +0100

Ieng Sary's defense team received a warning from Co-Investigating Judges Tuesday: Remove all sensitive documents from their independent website, or "face sanctions." The lawyers have 48 hours to take down "any documents relating to the judicial investigation, other than those already published on the ECCC website," according to a statement from the court.

The Co-Investigating Judges claim the defense team published confidential documents on the site. It does not specify what those wer...

Ailing Ieng Sary a no-show at court

Elena Lesley — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:33:00 +0100

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 ...

Ieng Thirith threatens court with Hell; Ieng Sary plans to highlight poor health

Elena Lesley — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:00:00 +0100

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 ...

Judges to weigh Khieu Samphan appeal in public

Elena Lesley — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:30:00 +0100

The last week of February is shaping up to be a busy one at the ECCC. In addition to appeal hearings for Ieng Thirith and Ieng Sary, judges have now scheduled a public hearing for Khieu Samphan on Feb. 27.

Khieu, like the other defendants, is appealing the extension of his provisional detention. Judges denied a request from Co-Prosecutors that the appeal decision be based on written submissions alone.

Prince thinks "Comrade Duch" will be only prosecution at KRT

Elena Lesley — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:34:00 +0100

* In an interview in yesterday's Post, Prince Sisowath Thomico says "I think that spending US$100 million just to try Duch is a big problem, because I don't think Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith will ever be tried." Khieu Samphan's lawyer, Jacques Verges, expressed a similar viewpoint in a recent interview. This is a concern I often hear. Duch's case is by far the most straightforward, and even it is progressing more slowly than originally expected. The cases again...

Civil party lawyers debate Joint Criminal Enterprise

Elena Lesley — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:13:00 +0100

Civil party lawyers at the ECCC have weighed in on the debate over Joint Criminal Enterprise and, in keeping with the highly controversial nature of the charge, appear to have differing opinions.

As I explained in a recent post, it is the Co-Prosecutors' demand that "Comrade Duch" be charged under the theory of JCE that has delayed his trial by months. To help resolve this issue, the court requested briefs on the topic from three outside sources. In my post, I summarized the arguments...

KRT in brief

Elena Lesley — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:19:00 +0100

* Judges at the ECCC have extended the provisional detention of Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith for another year.

* A confrontational meeting between "Comrade Duch" and Nuon Chea, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed.

The depth of Duch's liability

Elena Lesley — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:47:00 +0100

December 5, judges at the tribunal will announce whether "Comrade Duch" can be held accountable under the doctrine of "joint criminal enterprise," a controversial form of liability resembling conspiracy.

Haggling over the applicability of the charge has delayed the start of the Tuol Sleng torture chief's trial for months. As recent briefs filed with the court show, the dispute is actually just the most recent flashpoint in a much larger legal debate. So while it may seem highly theoret...

KR detainees chat, exercise together

Elena Lesley — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:11:00 +0100

I've been in Pailin for the Center for Social Development's forum (rescheduled from Oct. 17) and want to note a couple tribunal developments that took place in my absence:

* For the first time since they were taken into custody, detainees at the ECCC were allowed to socialize last week. Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Comrade Duch met for around ten minutes, chatting and strolling around the small courtyard at the detention facility.

* Judges determined Ieng Sary and Nuon Chea were...

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