KR Tribunal

Judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal are actively considering contempt proceedings against people who have leaked confidential court documents as well as media outlets that have published them, a court spokesman said yesterday.

The comments followed the publication on Monday of confidential documents by the New Zealand-based Scoop news site.

“The co-investigating judges have already made clear that they may pursue by legal means anyone publishing from confidential court documents,” court spokesman Lars Olsen said, referring to a June 9 statement.

“Contempt of court procedures against persons who forwarded confidential documents without authorisation and against those who published them are under active consideration by the office of the co-investigating judges,” Olsen added.

The United States-based Christian Science Monitor published two articles earlier this month that quoted extensively from confidential documents relating to the court’s controversial Cases 003 and 004, sparking the statement from the judges.

Scoop cited the judges’ rejection of a Case 003 civil party application by Rob Hamill, who lost his brother to the Khmer Rouge, in explaining its decision to publish.