KI Media |
- Beatings no human rights violation: official [-Human rights redux in sCambodia]
- ECCC vs. Government Interference
- Limited liability for Khmer Rouge tribunal [... aka the Extra-judicial Crime in the Court of sCambodia]
- Critics Fear War Crimes Court to Drop New Khmer Rouge Cases [-Extra-judicial Crime in the Court of sCambodia?]
- PRESS RELEASE: Victims Association president calls for the resignations of UN administrator Knut Rosandhaug and co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk
- Thailand to organize large-scale expo in Cambodia despite recent clashes
- Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News
- Brain for ECCC Co-Investigating Judges
- ECCC Law
- Brain Food for ECCC (Attn: Knut, Siegfried)
- My rights, my responsibility (Constitution) Series
- "Tolaka Krom M'lub CPP" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei
- Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Dark Shadow
Beatings no human rights violation: official [-Human rights redux in sCambodia] Posted: 12 May 2011 09:24 AM PDT Thursday, 12 May 2011 15:02 May Titthara The Phnom Penh Post Om Yentieng, head of the Anticorruption Unit and the government's human rights committee, claimed this week that no human rights violations were committed during a violent police crackdown against protestors from the Boeung Kak lakeside outside the Phnom Penh City Hall last month. The April 21 protest erupted into violence when more than 100 police wielding electric batons attacked roughly 100 villagers and arrested 11 people, including two children. Speaking on the sidelines of a two-day land rights conference in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, Om Yentieng said villagers could file a criminal complaint if they so chose, but that the police actions did not constitute a human rights violation. "[Villagers] asked City Hall about this many times, but I do not view this as a human rights violation," he said. "Which article says that the actions of authorities were wrong?" he said, referring to Cambodia's penal code. Rights groups say more than 4,000 families will ultimately be evicted from Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak lake area to make way for a real estate development run by a Chinese firm and ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin. Boeung Kak residents have staged frequent protests in the capital since the concession was awarded in 2007. Tep Vanny, a Boeung Kak representative, said Om Yentieng's comments reflected the government's indifference to her community's plight. "Om Yentieng does not recognize the truth, takes no responsibility, disguises the facts and tries to confuse democracy," she said. Ouch Leng, head of the land programme at local rights group Adhoc, said Om Yentieng's comments demonstrated his willingness to condone human rights violations committed by government officials. "The villagers protested to find a non-violent resolution, but authorities used violence against them," Ouch Leng said. Roughly 150,000 Phnom Penh residents, or about 9.5 percent of the capital's current population, have been displaced since 1990, according to figures released yesterday by housing NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut. A total of 1,510 families in Phnom Penh were displaced by forced evictions and planned relocations last year, STT said. | ||
ECCC vs. Government Interference Posted: 12 May 2011 08:46 AM PDT Opinion by P. Ma Dear compatriots, I take the liberty to share with you below comments by two unknowns regarding the way the ECCC is being manipulated and where it is heading at the end. There are many unanswered questions and the actual motives behind the threat and constant interferences from the CPP-led government. It seems to me that the government of Cambodia is trying to hide or preventing Cambodian people from hearing the truth regarding the scope and scale of the Killing Fileds. Is it because they don't want to reveal the actual people involved, decision makers at the top, region to region? Who know what, when and where it originated from? The whole court process, stacked with majority of pro-CPP judges is a real charade, and it seems as though those victims of the Killing Fields will never see justice as long as the court is being controlled and manipulated by the present Cambodian government. It's another tragedy and if the court were to close down and hurriedly claim its success, it is a second victory being rewarded to the murderers. As for the ones who are now defending those killers, it's for you to reflect on their reasonings. THE UN WASTES A LOT OF MONEY TO PROSECUTE FORMER KHMER ROUGE LEADERS BECAUSE THEY MADE MISTAKE BY HIRING MOST OF THE CPP AGENTS TO TRIAL KHMER ROUGE. THEY SHOULD DEPLOY UN POLICE TO CONTROL THE COURT. CHEA LEANG HERSELF SHOULD STAND TRIAL AND THE UN SHOULD PROSECUTE HER AND OTHER MEMBERS OF CPP COURT BECAUSE THEY OBSTRUCT THE JUSTICE. By law if you obstruct the justice, you should be arrested and trialed by the court. Hun Sen do whatever he can to stop the court. He drags the court until the court runs out of money and get the hell out from Hun Sen. "So Sok Ann is an uncle of Chea Leang no wonder why this ECCC under CPP does not is not independent. So youn Hanoi has been handling this ECCC. So justice for the Khmer victims between 1975-1979 and their family never happen under CPP which is formed by late Ho Chi Minh in 1930. That is why ECCC and CPP so afraid of KR who have been detained speaking out. So the main jobs for ECCC as fellow:
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Posted: 12 May 2011 08:38 AM PDT May 13, 2011 By Sebastian Strangio Asia Times Online PHNOM PENH - Sometime later this year, Cambodia's war crimes court will convene its second trial at which four ailing Khmer Rouge leaders will face a raft of charges including crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The four accused - Khmer Rouge "Brother No 2" Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, head of state Khieu Samphan and minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith - are the most senior surviving leaders of the regime, whose ultra-Maoist revolution led to the death of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians between 1975-79. The tribunal's first case, against Khmer Rouge jailer Kaing Guek Eav, came to an historic conclusion in July when judges convicted him for his role in the deaths of as many as 15,000 people at Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 prison. The 30-year jail sentence handed down against the wiry former schoolteacher, better known by his revolutionary nom de guerre Duch, is currently under appeal. As the United Nations-backed tribunal gears up for its much more complicated second case, controversy surrounds the potential indictments of five further mid-ranking Khmer Rouge figures. The names of the suspects in Case 003 and Case 004, as the court refers to them, have not yet been officially disclosed but human-rights activists have named the pair under investigation as Meas Muth, former commander of the Khmer Rouge navy, and ex-air force head Sou Met. The latter case also allegedly involves Im Chem, a former district chief in Banteay Meanchey province, and a pair of deputy zone secretaries, Yim Tith (alias Ta Tith) and Aom An (alias Ta An). The government has long opposed any prosecutions beyond the second case, arguing that further arrests could threaten social stability or plunge the nation back into civil war. In October, Prime Minister Hun Sen told visiting UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon that Case 002 would be the tribunal's last and that the pursuit of new cases was "not allowed". This week, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith warned the tribunal's foreign staff about pushing too hard on the two cases. "If they want to go into Case 003 or 004, they should just pack their bags and return home," the Phnom Penh Post quoted him as saying. Court monitors and rights activists have recently expressed concerns over apparent signs that the international side of the court is yielding to government pressure. The issue came to a head late last month when the court's co-investigating judges - You Bunleng of Cambodia and Siegfried Blunk of Germany - officially announced that their investigation into Case 003 had been completed. Critics charged that the judges had carried out few if any field investigations in the sensitive case and that the probe had been fast-tracked as a prelude to its likely dismissal by the court. "The investigating judges have acted precipitously to shut down the investigation, and I say that because we know from talking to people working in the court that they have not gone to crime scenes and done the kind of investigation that one would expect in any criminal case, much less a case of this seriousness," Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told the Associated Press after the investigation was closed. "It was a political decision, it appears, to shut down this case." Theary Seng, a human-rights activist and victims advocate, said the manner of the announcement - delivered in a curt, one-sentence statement after close of business on a Friday - indicated that Blunk and You Bunleng were shying away from public scrutiny. "It was transparently deceitful," she said. "The judges have a duty - it's not an option - to investigate. They have failed in their duty to investigate and they have failed to inform the public ... It has scarred the legacy of the Khmer Rouge tribunal already." Bringing the five additional suspects to justice was also important in justifying the overall cost of the tribunal, she said. "There's no magic number as to how many should be prosecuted and should be indicted. But five indictees after $200 million spent with only one verdict is not acceptable. The current five are not sufficient for the crimes that took the lives of 1.7 million Cambodians." Dereliction of duty Under the court's internal rules, which follow the French civil law system, investigating judges conduct the investigation and then submit their evidence to the court's prosecutors, who decide whether to go to trial. In a statement on May 9, international co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley said the alleged crimes in Case 003 - which include murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment and enslavement - had "not been fully investigated", and urged the co-investigating judges to "summon and question the suspects" in the case. He also made public a detailed list of locations across the country thought to be connected with the alleged crimes and gave information to victims wishing to apply as civil parties in the case. Though court observers welcomed Cayley's disclosure, it lacked the signature of his Cambodian counterpart Chea Leang, a long-time opponent of further prosecutions. The next day, she released her own statement countering the call for further probes, claiming that the suspects in Case 003 fell outside the court's jurisdiction, which restricts its mandate to "senior leaders" of the Khmer Rouge regime and those deemed "most responsible" for its crimes. Despite their clear disagreement on whether to move forward on the controversial case, Cayley said he would continue to work closely with Chea Leang and fulfill the legal obligations of his position. "She and I both agree that matters within the court need to be handled according to the law," he said. "As the international prosecutor, I have a legal obligation and a duty to act and follow the rules and we have never been in disagreement on that." Clair Duffy, a court monitor with the Open Society Justice Initiative, said that whatever the extent of Cayley's legally-invested powers, he and other international judges are likely to face significant practical difficulties as the pursuit of the case runs up against entrenched government opposition. "In terms of securing national cooperation in the investigation and arrest of suspects, the Cambodian government needs to lift its opposition to these cases and make this happen," she said. She added that the UN needed to "step up" and pressure Phnom Penh to cease its meddling in the case. The longstanding conflict between the Cambodian and international sides of the tribunal reflects the awkward political compromise that gave birth to the hybrid court. The brewing disagreement over additional prosecutions is likely to bring such issues to a head and court observers say the fate of the two cases will be a test of the tribunal's credibility. "The point is that the issue affects more than just Case 003 and Case 004 - it affects the whole of the court," Duffy said. "Judicial independence is a fundamental tenet of any justice system. The implications of a lack of judicial independence or of political decision making by judges are huge." Court spokesman Lars Olsen said that it was "premature" to make any kind of judgment about political interference at the tribunal. "It's too early to predict what will be the legacy of the court," he said, adding that "regardless of what will be the outcome of the investigation, the decisions of the judges will be made public" and open to scrutiny. Theary Seng, whose parents perished under the Khmer Rouge regime, said she was hopeful that pressure was now building on the court to push forward with the third case, and that the UN would be forced to put up a "good fight" against government manipulation. "The UN failing to address these concerns will damage and further embed cynicism in the Cambodian population," she said. "The UN will be greatly implicated if they don't act." Sebastian Strangio is a journalist based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He can be reached at sebastian.strangio@gmail.com. | ||
Posted: 12 May 2011 08:30 AM PDT Prisoners held at S-21, the Khmer Rouge regime's main torture centre, on display at what is now a genocide museum in Phnom Penh. (Credit:Irwin Loy/IPS) By Irwin Loy PHNOM PENH, May 12, 2011 (IPS) - There are no publicly named suspects, no defence lawyers and no official victims. And soon, court observers in Cambodia fear, there will be no further Khmer Rouge trials. On a Friday evening in late April, the United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal quietly announced that co-investigating judges had wrapped up their probe into the third of four cases against the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. But the court has never publicly identified the suspects under investigation in what's become known here as Case 003, nor has it reached out to potential victims. The move, court observers say, is another sign the tribunal will not proceed with what has become a politically charged case. "It seems like they were trying to get the least amount of attention on this move as possible," said Clair Duffy, a court monitor with the Open Society Justice Initiative. "What has been happening (with the investigation) was a sham outside of the public view," said outspoken advocate Theary Seng, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge. "It's an affront to the memories of those who passed away." Seng's parents were among the estimated 1.7 million people who died when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Pol Pot, the leader of the ultra-Maoist movement, died in 1998 without ever facing trial Seng ruffled feathers at the court last month when she applied for civil party status in Case 003 and publicly named suspects she believed to be under investigation. A court spokesman at the time called the move "reckless." Seng says her application has been rejected. She says she was trying to bring the investigation under public scrutiny. "The court has been hiding and using confidentiality as a pretext," she said. "They're failing in their responsibility." So far, only one Khmer Rouge figure has ever been tried and convicted by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC, as the tribunal is officially known. The tribunal trumpeted the July 2010 conviction of Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, as a triumph of justice after years of impunity. Duch was a Khmer Rouge prison chief responsible for the torture and death of some 14,000 Cambodians. In addition, four senior leaders of the regime have been indicted and their trial, referred to as Case 002, is expected to proceed sometime this year, though the court has not announced a start date. In both cases, the tribunal has been quick to release public updates about the proceedings and has made significant efforts to engage survivors of the regime, as well as former Khmer Rouge cadres, in the legal process. But Case 003 is different. The court has chosen not to release details of its investigation, leaving potential victims in the dark. The tribunal allows qualified victims or their families to directly participate in trial proceedings as civil parties. "We have basically heard next to nothing about this case for 20 months," Duffy said. "It literally couldn't be more different to the Case 002 investigation and how much information was made available. The fact that civil parties were never given even the most basic information to be able to participate is another indicator. All of this tends to show that the judges wanted this issue to quietly slip away." The court has been hampered by accusations of political interference. The government has repeatedly stated that it believes the tribunal should stop its work after the long-awaited second trial has ended, arguing that further prosecutions would destabilise a country that is still healing more than three decades after the Khmer Rouge were toppled from power. Opinions on whether to proceed with the third and fourth cases have been split even among court officials at the hybrid tribunal, which is composed of Cambodian legal officials as well as their international counterparts. That rift was further exposed this week, when the international and Cambodian co-prosecutors issued conflicting press statements about the third case. International co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley said he would urge the investigating judges to reopen the inquiry because "the crimes alleged … have not been fully investigated." "[Cayley] has the legal obligation … to identify and request all reasonable investigative actions which should be taken by the co-investigating judges before a decision is made as to whether or not any individuals should be indicted and sent for trial," his statement read. The prosecutor also revealed new information about crime sites where he alleges the offences under investigation took place. In addition, he urged the court to grant potential victims more time to apply for civil party status. Under court rules, the current deadline to apply is May 18. The next day, Cayley's Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, issued a statement opposing further trials. "The national co-prosecutor thoroughly examined and maintained that the suspects mentioned [in] the Case File 003 were not either senior leaders or those who were most responsible during the period of Democratic Kampuchea," Leang's statement read. For now, the future of any further trials beyond the upcoming second case remains unresolved. The court's co-investigating judges must decide this month whether to comply with or to reject the prosecution's request to re-open the investigation. If the request is rejected, the co-prosecutors can appeal the decision. After that, the co-prosecutors will evaluate the finalised case file. They could then urge the judge to indict the suspects and send the case to trial, or to drop the case outright. | ||
Posted: 12 May 2011 08:21 AM PDT Founder, President of the Cambodia-based First-registered Victims Association Theary Seng Calls for the Resignations of UN Administrator Knut Rosandhaug and Co-Investigating Judge Siegfried Blunk _________________________ PRESS RELEASE _________________________ PHNOM PENH, 12 May 2011: The president and founder of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (AKRVC), Ms. Theary C. SENG, calls for the resignations of UN top administrator Knut Rosandhaug and UN co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk for their anti-victim actions and policies which work against the main goals of the Extraordinary Chambers (ECCC) of justice (truth-seeking) and reconciliation (meaningful victims' engagement). Mr. Knut Rosandhaug is a mindless bureaucrat of the worst kind for victims of the Khmer Rouge mass crimes. He drove away the first and best possible chief of the ECCC Victims Support Section, Cambodian Keat Bophal, a woman of deep experience (hailed from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), caring personality and other stellar professional, educational credentials. He masterminded the mindless co-lead lawyers' scheme of civil party representation which strips away every meaningful participation of victims as "historic" civil "parties". After this scheme, a victim as "party" now exists on paper, as the actual rights of his/her party status are almost less than those of a "witness". At least a witness has a direct voice in the criminal proceeding detailing substantive facts; whereas now, a civil "party" is limited to testifying on the impact of the substantial facts. Mr. Rosandhaug circumscribed the mandate of the co-lead lawyers Cambodian Ang Pich and French Elisabeth Simmoneau-Fort to only Case 002, ignoring Cases 003 and 004. He allocated ZERO budget for any U.N. staff—junior, middle or senior—to be with the ECCC Victims Support Section since the resignation of U.N. lawyer Paul Oertly almost two years ago. Pleads Ms. Seng: "Please, Mr. Knut Rosandhaug, for the sake of Cambodians and the development of a more positive legacy of Cambodia—RESIGN. Please UN, "promote" Mr. Knut Rosandhaug away to another position elsewhere outside of Cambodia." It's difficult to divine Judge Siegfried Blunk's state of mind for his fantastic arrogance and ignorance of 21st-century Facebook-Twitter-KI-Media proportion in thinking he can hide securely behind the impenetrable veil of confidentiality and ignore his duty to keep the public and victims informed. How is the constant refrain of "Confidential" reasonable in light of the inactivity and silence of the last 20 months? He has failed the reasonableness test, the integrity test and the justice test. It is high time for both of them to go. States Ms. Seng, "We are stunned and incredulous. Their implicit message to us is that we poor Cambodians should accept this tattered, cheap justice in silence because this is all we deserve. To these men, I'd like to resoundingly state – Do your job with integrity, or resign. We have enough of your arrogance and disastrous ECCC imperialistic macho-ism." These men have soiled the ideals of truth, justice, reconciliation for the Cambodian victims in their anti-victim actions and policies. Their actions will further imbed the already deeply ingrained cynicism of the Cambodian population, the worst legacy imaginable for this fragile society of great distrust and trauma, as we struggle in the process of healing. We are calling for their resignations and not for their Cambodian counterparts because the quality of their replacements is different. The political interference and influence are so complete with the Cambodian personnel that it is difficult to imagine anyone doing a better job than Judge You Bunleng, for example, in his current position. Whereas with the UN, it should be modeling international standards it so proudly espouses and be theoretically and in real terms free from domestic political interference with greater options of movement for the institution and for its personnel. Ms. Seng continues: "We trusted the UN. Our hopes were raised because of the participation of the United Nations. The fate of Cases 003 and 004 will cast a long shadow on the Extraordinary Chambers. They serve as the litmus test of UN integrity and internationalized justice generally, and the legacy of the Extraordinary Chambers specifically. Ms. Seng concludes: "We desire justice. Truth is a pre-condition of justice. Who gets heard and who speaks is a part of truth-seeking, a part of justice. The deceit surrounding Cases 003 and 004 is unacceptable." For more information, please contact Ms. Seng at 012.222.552 or theary.seng@gmail.com. ___________________________________________________ The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia—the first association based in Cambodia to be registered with the Ministry of Interior and the first to be recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and independent of any political or religious affiliation—is a network of survivors of the 1975-79 killing fields who are joined in the fellowship of suffering, in the demand for justice, and in the work for a just peace. The members of the Victims Association are from overseas and spread across the provinces and capital of Cambodia, coming together as a result of the public forums conducted by its Founder, and now its president Ms. Theary C. SENG and Victims Outreach Manager Mr. SOK Leang since 2007. They include widows and orphans; former child soldiers and former prisoners; hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; well-known actresses playwrights, authors and journalists; as well as teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers, inter alia. Among the other members of the Victims Association is the Civil Parties of Orphans Class, a special grouping pre-dating the AKRVC founding when introduced officially in the Pre-Trial Chamber hearing of Nuon Chea in Feb. 2008, and since officially recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and a party to the Extraordinary Chambers Case File No. 002 against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders. | ||
Thailand to organize large-scale expo in Cambodia despite recent clashes Posted: 11 May 2011 08:36 PM PDT May 12, 2011 Xinhua Thailand is to organize a large-scale trade expo here next week in order to boost bilateral trade with Cambodia despite the unsolved border dispute, said a Thai trade official on Wednesday. The event will be run from May 19-22 at Phnom Penh's Diamond Island Exhibition Center with the participation of 260 Thai booths in order to promote Thai products in Cambodia, Jiranan Wongmongkol, director of the Thai embassy's Foreign Trade Promotion Office in Phnom Penh, said a press briefing. "It's the second time in this year that Thailand has organized such big event in Cambodia," she said. "We're committed to boost trade relations with Cambodia regardless of border hostilities." She said that during the expo, there will be a business forum between the two countries' chambers of commerce and another business matching forum between the two countries' businesspeople for trade cooperation opportunity. Bilateral trades between Cambodia and Thailand mounted to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. Of the figure, Cambodia exported to Thailand worth only 214 million U.S. dollars, according to the statistics from the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce. A week after the disputed Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, clashes erupted between Cambodia and Thailand as Thailand claimed of the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple. Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes between the two countries' soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides. The latest flare-up had occurred from April 22 until May 3 at the 13th century Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple in Oddar Meanchey province, leaving 19 people on both sides killed and nearly 100,000 civilians fled homes for safe shelters. | ||
Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News Posted: 11 May 2011 08:29 PM PDT | ||
Brain for ECCC Co-Investigating Judges Posted: 11 May 2011 08:18 PM PDT Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. | ||
Posted: 11 May 2011 08:11 PM PDT Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea ("ECCC Law") with inclusion of amendments as promulgated on 27 October 2004 CHAPTER VI: CO-PROSECUTORS Article 19 The Co-Prosecutors shall be appointed from among those individuals who are appointed in accordance with the existing procedures for selection of prosecutors who have high moral character and integrity and who are experienced in the conduct of investigations and prosecutions of criminal cases. The Co-Prosecutors shall be independent in the performance of their functions and shall not accept or seek instructions from any government or any other source. | ||
Brain Food for ECCC (Attn: Knut, Siegfried) Posted: 11 May 2011 08:00 PM PDT There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice. - Charles de Montesquieu | ||
My rights, my responsibility (Constitution) Series Posted: 11 May 2011 07:57 PM PDT Constitution of Cambodia (Sept. 1993) CHAPTER XII: THE CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL Article 139- New (previously Article 120 and as amended March 1999): The function of member of the Constitutional Council shall be incompatible with the functions of members of Senate, deputies, members of the royal government, sitting Judges, any function in public service, President or Vice-president of a political party or President or Vice-president of a union. | ||
"Tolaka Krom M'lub CPP" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei Posted: 11 May 2011 07:34 PM PDT | ||
Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Dark Shadow Posted: 11 May 2011 06:25 PM PDT
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