The Office of Co-Investigating Judges issued a response Friday to the Co-Prosecutors' appeal of the closing order for "Comrade Duch."

"While regretting that the first public trial of the Extraordinary Chambers will be delayed by the appeal, the Co-Investigating Judges will not, of course, make any comment on the appeal of their Closing Order ... the legal disagreement thereby highlighted now being before the Pre-Trial Chamber," the statement reads.

The Co-Prosecutors announced Thursday that they would appeal the closing order. They claimed it failed to hold Duch fully responsible for the crimes he committed during the Khmer Rouge period.

Court spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said she did not believe the appeal would "significantly impact" the start of Duch's trial. Moreover, she said the appeal should not be viewed as a delay, but as an instance of the Co-Prosecutors' exercising their procedural rights.

But that's not how everyone sees it.

 

"It won't ease the frustration of the public," Youk Chhang, director of the DC-Cam, told the Associated Press.

In an interview with the Cambodia Daily, court monitor Hiram Mousar commented that "what had been foreseen for September or October will necessarily suffer a delay of a month at least."

The Co-Prosecutors must file their official appeal brief by Sept. 10.

*Pictured: Co-Investigating Judge Marcel Lemonde.