Almost 100 victims of the Khmer Rouge's most brutal torture centre have applied to become civil parties at the upcoming trial
Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
The main courtroom at the ECCC, where Duch’s trial will start February 17.
UP to 94 people who were victims of, or bore witness to, the atrocities
that occurred at Tuol Sleng, the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison
camp, will participate in the upcoming trial of the torture centre's
former chief, Kaing Guek Eav, officials said.
According to a
statement from the court's Victims Unit, 66 new applications in
addition to an original 28 have been received from victims wishing to
be legally represented in the trial as a civil party, which allows them
to submit evidence and have access to the case file.
The
statement added that the recent influx of applications was due to the
court's outreach programs, which encouraged victims to take advantage
of the court's unique and largely experimental rules - ones that allow
greater victim participation than any other tribunal of its kind.
"As
a result of outreach activities ... an additional 66 Civil Party
applications were received. The Trial Chamber of the ECCC is in the
process of admitting the newly received applications," the statement
said.
Keat Bophal, head of the Victims Unit, told the Post
Wednesday that applications would likely be submitted to the trial
chamber by the end of the week, and that those seeking to become civil
parties included the "brothers, sisters and children" of people
tortured and killed at the regime's Choeung Ek "killing fields".
"Generally
speaking, DC-Cam-assisted civil parties are primarily relatives of
detainees at Tuol Sleng, with the exception of one survivor who barely
escaped death," a statement released by the Documentation Centre of
Cambodia this week said.
According to Keat Bophal, almost all applicants have access to a lawyer.
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