The Phnom Penh Post

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 regime leaders, going far beyond what had previously been made public in a presentation (at a civil party forum) that the court later described as unauthorised.

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 necessary distance to calm the situation," and various parties had to be physically restrained.

To defense lawyers' dismay, attorneys for the civil parties have now argued that the clash proves defendants cannot be released on bail. Anger directed toward the Khmer Rouge is still too raw, they say.

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.

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.

* 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 against the other defendants are far more complicated -- and, unfortunately, those defendants also happen to be older than Duch.

* Another, heartbreaking, article in the Post tells the story of a mother who is still waiting to hear news of a son that disappeared during the Khmer Rouge period. After 30 years, she still lives in the same village, just so her son can find her.

* The November edition of the Court Report is available online. In the newsletter, the Office of Co-Prosecutors reports that it "has accelerated its trial preparations in (Duch's case) dealing with the S-21 Security Centre of Phnom Penh. It prepared its audiovisual and other exhibits, witness lists and summaries, and other materials to be submitted as part of the pre-trial package to the Trial Chamber."

* 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 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 Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, other communication among detainees has, until now, been prohibited.

On May 20, the court issued an order concerning provisional detention conditions, in which it was determined the "detainees in the ECCC Detention Facility have not the right to communicate amongst themselves." Nuon Chea's lawyers appealed the order and the Pre-Trial Chamber chose to decide the issue based on the written submissions.

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-Khmer Rouge, by East German filmmakers Walter Heynowski and Gerard Scheumann.)

In interviews conducted shortly after the Khmer Rouge were ousted from power, the social affairs minister saddles the Vietnamese with responsibility for most of the country's misfortunes. The rather portly Thirith claims the Vietnamese manufactured the current famine in Cambodia to make the Khmer Rouge look bad.

When pressed to explain the Tuol Sleng torture center, she replies that "the Vietnamese are very cunning about this." The Vietnamese, in Thirith's opinion, are also responsible for the murder of half a million Cambodians and were the ones who targeted intellectuals for execution because intellectuals "are patriotic."

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 (Ieng Thirith) may have committed crimes against humanity."

Judges referenced her powerful position as minister of social affairs under Democratic Kampuchea. In that role, she had admitted to them, she was involved in the administration of the country's hospitals -- including hospital food -- and pharmaceutical plants.

"My duty was heavy," the judges said Thirith had told them.

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.