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...

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.

Incoming prosecutor discusses challenges of new role

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:24:18 +0100

On his first visit to Cambodia, new international co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley described in an interview his past international tribunal experience, his prospects for getting along with the government and the legal theories underpinning the charges against regime leaders awaiting trial.

Also recently:

December 17: A Khmer Rouge Rouge tribunal staffer provided estimated death tolls for security centres and execution sites related to the ongoing investigation of five re...

The relevance of Dec. 4, 2008

Elena Lesley — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:00:00 +0100

In arguments both Thursday and Friday, lawyers debated the relevance of an altercation that took place between civil parties and Khieu Samphan's defense lawyers last December.

It was the first time hostilities at the court boiled over into public dissent -- and near violence. Angered by the provocative Jacques Verges, and his Cambodian co-lawyer Sa Sovan, Khmer Rouge victims began a shouting match. Sa, as civil party lawyer Silke Studzinksy pointed out Thursday, "did not have the nece...

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...

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.

Khmer Rouge defendants can socialize, court says

Elena Lesley — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:06:00 +0100

The last fews days have been relatively slow in terms of court developments because of the Pchum Ben holiday, but an interesting decision was posted on the ECCC website today regarding communication among the five Khmer Rouge defendants.

The Pre-Trial Chamber has granted an appeal lodged by Nuon Chea's lawyers, which will potentially allow for greater contact among detainees awaiting trial at the ECCC. While the court had previously agreed to conjugal visits between married defendants...

When all else fails, blame the Vietnamese

Elena Lesley — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +0100

While there are haunting shots of a nearly deserted Phnom Penh, as well as moving testimonies from newly liberated Khmer Rouge survivors, I found the footage of Ieng Thirith by far the most striking element of "Kampuchea: Death and Rebirth," which was screened at Meta House Friday. (The film was the first to be shot in Cambodia post...

Ieng Thirith will stay in detention

Elena Lesley — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:00:00 +0100

In what has become a somewhat routine process at the ECCC, tribunal judges turned down a defendant's appeal against provisional detention today. Along with citing the usual rationale -- fear the charged person will try to flee, concern she might intimidate witnesses -- judges described some of the "well-founded reasons to believe (Ien...

Husband's hearing finished; decision for wife on Wednesday

Elena Lesley — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:00:00 +0100

I've just returned from a trip to former Khmer Rouge stronghold Anlong Veng, which I will write about soon. But first, a few items of note:

* Ieng Sary's hearing to appeal his pre-trial detention wrapped up last week .

* A decision regarding a similar appeal by his wife, Ieng Thirith, will be announced this Wednesday at the ECCC.

DK posse can't socialize

Elena Lesley — Sun, 25 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

Judges have turned down a request for visitation among the five defendants detained at the ECCC. The only exception, which I've noted before, is regular contact between husband and wife Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith.

"It is true that approximately 30 years have passed between the alleged acts and the arrest of the Charges Persons, during which time they have had the opportunity to contact each other," the Co-Investigating Judges wrote in a decision released last week. "H...

Khmer Rouge "First Lady" in court

Elena Lesley — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

Shuffling into the courtroom, her frail figure wrapped in a beige cardigan, Ieng Thirith looked more grandmotherly than menacing during her first ECCC appearance Wednesday.

But the former social affairs minister has not completely lost her edge. Cambodian courtroom observers (some witnesses for the tribunal) were hesitant ...

Lawyer says Ieng Thirith not mentally fit

Elena Lesley — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

In the most recent edition of the Post, Cat Barton examines the question of Ieng Thirith's sanity. The former Democratic Kampuchea social affairs minister is scheduled to go before the court this Wednesday to appeal her pre-trial detention.

Thirith's lawyer claims he has Thai-language medical documents that prove his client is not mentally fit to stand trial.

Given some of the defendants' advanced ages, the question of mental competence will no doubt continue to plague...

Ieng Thirith to go before court

Elena Lesley — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

The only female defendant currently detained at the ECCC will go before the Pre-Trial Chamber May 21. During the Khmer Rouge years, Ieng Thirith was Minister of Social Affairs and Head of Democratic Kampuchea's Red Cross Society. Her older sister, Khieu Ponnary, married Pol Pot. The Pre-Trial Chamber recently approved conjugal visits between Thirith and her husband Ieng Sary, who is also in detention at the ECCC.

Thirith will be appealing her provisional detention.

Blog entries tagged Ieng Thirith