Prosecutors Disagree on Cambodia War Crimes Tribunal’s Next Case

Robert Carmichael, VOA
Phnom Penh Thursday, 12 May 2011

via CAAI

Photo: Reuters

Tourist looks at portraits of former Khmer Rouge leaders Ieng Sary (R), 84, ex-foreign minister, his wife Ieng Thirith, 78, former minister of social welfare (2nd L), former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav (R), better known as Duch, former President Khieu Samphan (bottom R), and Nuon Chea (L), 84, the regime's second in command, at Toul Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh.

“I don’t consider that the investigation is concluded and I’ve asked for a number of steps to be taken including the interviewing of the suspects who are named in the introductory submission."

Prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh are at odds this week after investigating judges said they have completed their work on their third case - reportedly against two senior former military commanders. In Phnom Penh, critics accuse the government of interfering in the high-profile prosecutions.

The war crimes tribunal has long been split over how many former Khmer Rouge cases it should prosecute.

The international prosecutor Andrew Cayley said last year that he expected to see no more than 10 people stand trial for their alleged roles in the deaths of around two million people during the movement’s rule of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.

But his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, has opposed prosecuting more than five people. The first of those was the former security chief Comrade Duch, whom the court last year convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. His sentence is under appeal.

The other four, who make up Case Two, are the movement’s last surviving senior leaders. Their trial is expected to start later this year.

But while those cases are moving forward, the Cambodian government has long opposed prosecuting Cases Three and Four - involving the five remaining suspects.

The prosecution is tasked with assessing the court’s investigation and determining whether or not there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.

This week international prosecutor Andrew Cayley said it is clear that much more work is needed on Case Three.

“If you’re asking me how much more investigation needs to be done, I would simply use the words 'a significant amount' of investigation is still left to be done in that case,” Cayley said.

Cambodia remains an authoritarian country and the government’s opposition to Cases Three and Four has had a chilling effect on the tribunal’s Cambodian staff, most of whom have refused to work on the cases.

This week the investigating judges in Case Three closed their investigation and handed the case file back to the prosecution.

“I don’t consider that the investigation is concluded and I’ve asked for a number of steps to be taken including the interviewing of the suspects who are named in the introductory submission," Andrew Cayley said as he explained what work is still needed, "and a number of other steps including investigation of crime sites also originally named by the prosecution in the introductory submission, which haven’t been investigated at all.”

Cayley’s comments appear to confirm widespread rumors that the investigating judges did very little work on Case Three.

But Cayley’s Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang, later released a press statement recommending that Case Three be closed.

Chea Leang said she had examined the case file, and decided that the unnamed suspects were not senior leaders and were not among those most responsible for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge - the two categories that define those whom the court can prosecute.

With the Cambodian prosecutor, the government and the investigating judges all pushing to close Case Three, outside observers doubt that the prosecution will go forward.

International prosecutor Andrew Cayley’s last option for Case Three is to appeal its closure to a bench of five judges. Three of the judges are Cambodian and trial observers believe the bench would likely vote to dismiss the case.

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Master Leads Emerging Students in US Dance Tour

The Children of Bassac Classical and Folk Dance group perform in front of the National Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: Courtesy of Long Chean)

Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Washington Monday, 18 April 2011

“I was so moved. Tears almost came to my eyes. It was such an amazing crowd.”

“The Children of Bassac,” a troupe of emerging Cambodian classic and folk dancers, is touring the US through May 10.

The performance is led by master artist Ieng Sithul, who told “Hello VOA” on Thursday he wants to see Khmer dance showcased internationally.

“We put on several performances a day,” he said. “We are all tired, but we have a mission and that is to promote and explain Khmer culture.”

Ieng Sithul is traveling with one other musician and 10 students, including 21-year-old Neang Visal.

“Last night I was so moved and so proud to be able to perform on the international stage, to show the world Cambodian arts and its rich culture,” said Neang Visal, following a performance in New York.

Eighteen-year-old Duong Dara Penh, another dance student, said she was moved by the applause from the audience.

“I was so moved,” she said. “Tears almost came to my eyes. It was such an amazing crowd.”

Ieng Sithul said Thursday he formed the group in 2003 with the support of the government and Cambodian Living Arts, an NGO.

The idea was to support artists with great potential but few means to study. There are now 15 students studying under Ieng Sithul, who is a master of numerous Cambodian classical insruments.

“The Children of Bassac” will also perform at the Khmer temple in Brooklyn, New York, before moving on to Vermont, Connecticut, Boston and Lowell.

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320,000 New Voters Urged To Register

The National Election Committee hopes to register some 320,000 new voters between October and December, adding to a list of more than 8.3 million. (Photo: AP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 09 September 2010

“But some legal conditions make their registration complicated, such as [a requirement for] identity cards and a residence book.”

The National Election Committee hopes to register some 320,000 new voters between October and December, adding to a list of more than 8.3 million.

The NEC announced its figures on Thursday, following an annual survey of voter registration.

“Cambodians of both genders above the age of 18 who have not registered or have changed their residences have the right to register at the commune office where they are living, NEC President Im Sousdey told reporters Thursday.

However, an opposition lawmaker said the NEC was making a difficult task sound easy.

“The National Election Committee seems to have a willingness to promote non-governmental organizations and opposition parties in attracting people eligible to register,” the Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker, Kuoy Bunroeun, said. “But some legal conditions make their registration complicated, such as [a requirement for] identity cards and a residence book.”

The identification of some 4 million people are set to expire between 2011 and 2012—when commune council elections are scheduled—he said. And around half a million voters have double names on the NEC roster, he said.

Im Sousdey said the Ministry of Interior was considering issuing a subdecree to extend the validity of ID cards, and he denied that 500,000 double names were on the NEC books.

“Commune clerks must write down the ID number of voters on the list and issue a receipt confirming their registration,” he said.

Meanwhile, local leaders like Yon Teng, Bak Dav commune chief in Kandal province's Khach Kanal district, are preparing to canvas for registrations.

“We are preparing all the legal documents for unregistered people who are 18 years old in all the villages,” he said.

Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said his organization would help the NEC issue campaign information and register new voters, especially through broadcast media.

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UN Expert Arrives to Assay Tribunal Progress

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 03 September 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC.

Williamson, the former US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, arrived in Cambodia Wednesday night and met with court officials Thursday and Friday. He is expected to meet with Cabinet Minister Sok An, who oversees the court for the government, next week.

The UN's special envoy for the Khmer Rouge tribunal has undertaken a series of meetings this week to report on the progress of the UN-backed court and weigh in on future funding.

UN Special Expert Clint Williamson told VOA Khmer Friday night he would not only be looking into fundraising but also “a number of issues related to the operation of the court.”

Williamson, the former US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, arrived in Cambodia Wednesday night and met with court officials Thursday and Friday. He is expected to meet with Cabinet Minister Sok An, who oversees the court for the government, next week.

The tribunal has experienced cash-flow problems this year, with some donors reluctant to fund a court facing staff allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

In a report issued Thursday, the Open Society Justice Initiative said the tribunal suffers from fractured leadership and would require “effective and sustained high-level UN leadership...to deal with the political, funding and management problems facing the court.”

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EU To Look Into Sugar Deals, Land Disputes

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 03 September 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: by Heng Reaksmey
Villagers in Kampong Speu protest against Phnom Penh Sugar Company for land grabbing, in May 2010.

“Before the EU has agreements with companies in Cambodia, they should investigate whether those companies are involved in human rights abuses, before they take the goods for import into Europe,”

Representatives of the rights group Licadho met with European Union officials on Friday, following reports this week that the EU's preferential trade polices were linked to agricultural land evictions.

Officials from Licadho and the EU confirmed the closed-door meeting on Friday but declined to elaborate.

However, the meeting follows a week of increased media scrutiny questioning whether the EU's trade deals are being taken advantage of by companies behind the forced evictions of thousands of people.

The EU's Cambodian charge d'affaires, Rafael Dochao-Moreno, said at an EU-sponsored human rights forum on Wednesday the EU would look into whether its Anything But Arms program, which provides tariff exemptions for goods exported from less-developed countries, was linked to illegal evictions.

“This is something we are analyzing now,” the Cambodia Daily quoted him saying.

The Cambodia Daily also reported last week that the sugar plantation operations of Cambodian People's Party Senator Ly Yong Phat were fueling land disputes while cashing in on the EU trade deal.

Villagers in the provinces of Koh Kong and Kampong Speu have alleged that sugar plantations operated by Ly Yong Phat have pushed them off their land. Major protests have ensued, leading to violence and arrests.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote a letter to opposition party lawmakers defending the Kampong Speu concession, given by the Ministry of Agriculture, an act which Dochao-Moreno was quoted as saying had prompted the EU investigation.

Ly Yong Phat told VOA Khmer on Friday that his sugar plantations did not have deals with Europe.

The Cambodia Daily, however, reported that Ly Yong Phat operated sugar contracts through a joint venture with Thai company Khon Kaen Sugar, which in turn sells it to a British industrial food company.

“Before the EU has agreements with companies in Cambodia, they should investigate whether those companies are involved in human rights abuses, before they take the goods for import into Europe,” Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said.

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Groups Prepare Complaints for New Corruption Investigators

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 03 September 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
The Cambodia Independent Anti-Corruption Committee will also file a complaint over a 5-hectare land dispute in Phnom Penh, the committee's president.

“All the complaints have the names and IDs of corrupt tax agents, and in each complaint there are about five to 15 complainants,” he said. “All the complaints will be submitted to the Anti-Corruption Unit in late September to stop and punish corrupt tax agents.”

At least three local organizations say they are preparing a stack of complaints of graft and misdeeds for submission to the new national Anti-Corruption Unit.

Fourteen members of the unit were sworn in on Tuesday, vowing to uphold an anti-corruption law that was passed earlier this year.

The complaints, which will be the first test of the Anti-Corruption Unit, encompass allegations of corruption within the police and courts and in illegal logging and land disputes.

San Chey, the Cambodian coordinator for the regional Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, said he had 60 complaints of tax agents demanding excessive fees for vehicle taxes.

“All the complaints have the names and IDs of corrupt tax agents, and in each complaint there are about five to 15 complainants,” he said. “All the complaints will be submitted to the Anti-Corruption Unit in late September to stop and punish corrupt tax agents.”

The most serious complaints are of tax agents in the provinces of Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Kandal and Takeo and will be a “test” of the Anti-Corruption Unit's willingness to tackle the problem, he said.

“The Anti-Corruption Unit is starting its work,” he said. “We want to see the 2010 annual tax collection for all vehicles have transparency and be a good example in the fight against corruption.”

The National Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organization, which monitors natural resources and human rights, will also lodge a complaint accusing 241 people of illegal logging in Kampong Speu's Oral National Park.

Chea Hean, the director of the organization, said he was preparing even more similar complaints for officials and park rangers in Koh Kong province's Botum Sakor National Park and Kampot province's Bokor National Park.

“I'll lodge these complaints with the Anti-Corruption Unit to create more investigations, because I've lodged them with the Koh Kong and Kampong Speu provincial courts...but the courts did not take action,” he said. “If we gather the evidence and the Anti-Corruption Unit cannot find corruption, I won't have faith in the government institution.”

The Cambodia Independent Anti-Corruption Committee will also file a complaint over a 5-hectare land dispute in Phnom Penh, the committee's president, Mom Sitha said.

Yet more civic groups have complaints to file, said Chan Soveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc. However, many are waiting because they do not have faith the Anti-Corruption Unit is politically neutral, he said.

“The ACU officials were sworn in as corruption investigators, but they have not sworn to withdraw from the [ruling Cambodian People's Party] yet,” he said.

Om Yientang, a senior government adviser and the head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, said he welcomed the complaints, provided they contained enough evidence.

“We can investigate all kinds of complaints,” he said.

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Licadho Decries Steep Court Sentence for Staff Member

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, D.C
Friday, 03 September 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: VOA, Khmer
Am Sam Ath is a senior Licadho monitor.

“I do not think it impacts the human rights defense process of Licadho,” the monitor, Am Sam Ath, said as a guest on “Hello VOA.” “But what we regret is that the Takeo court convicted Leang Sochoeun without proper evidence, and the verdict also did not comply with court independence and legitimacy at all.”

The two-year jail sentence of a rights worker for Licadho will not deter the groups work, a senior Licadho monitor said Thursday.

Leang Sochoeun, a staff member of Licadho, was handed the sentence from the Takeo provincial court this week, on charges he participated in an anti-government leaflet distribution earlier this year.

“I do not think it impacts the human rights defense process of Licadho,” the monitor, Am Sam Ath, said as a guest on “Hello VOA.” “But what we regret is that the Takeo court convicted Leang Sochoeun without proper evidence, and the verdict also did not comply with court independence and legitimacy at all.”

Even the court's arrest warrant was flawed, he said. It called for the arrest of a person name Leang Sokly of Phnom Penh's Svay Pak commune, not Leang Sochoeun, who lives in Sen Sok commune.

Leang Sochoeun was charged with three other men for distributing leaflets earlier this year critical of the government's relationship with Vietnam and a celebration marking the January 7 anniversary of the Vietnamese-backed ouster of the Khmer Rouge.

Leang Sochoeun fainted after his verdict was read, and Licadho said the conviction had created “an atmosphere of fear.”

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said rights workers were subject to the same laws as everyone. “No one is above the law,” he said, adding that rights groups did not fully understand the case.

However, Am Sam Ath said rights workers do want law, governance and an independent court. They also want to work with the government, not against it.

Licadho recorded at least 66 cases of threats and intimidation against rights workers in 2008 and 2009.

A leaflet distribution was an expression of political views that should be protected, he said, noting that in the West, such acts rarely lead to imprisonment.

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Rights Workers Faced Increased Duress in 2008, 2009: Report

Licadho President Pung Chhiv Kek told VOA Khmer Wednesday the increase was a result of a judicial system that was biased toward the rich or powerful. (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 01 September 2010

“Most of the violence has happened to community representatives in land grabs and in land violence against the Khmer Kampuchea Krom.”

Cambodian human rights workers say they have faced increasing threats and pressure for doing their work over the past two years from police, courts and government officials.

In a report issued Wednesday examining the years 2008 and 2009, the rights group Licadho said it found “the intensified use of the courts as a weapon,... increased use of defamation and disinformation laws to restrict freedom of expression... [and] increased restriction on freedom of association and assembly.”

Licadho President Pung Chhiv Kek told VOA Khmer Wednesday the increase was a result of a judicial system that was biased toward the rich or powerful.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak denied the finding of the reports, reporting to the number of Licadho staff in the provinces. Were threats and intimidation as bad as reported, he said, Licadho would not have staff there.

Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, supported the findings in the report.

“Violence has progressed, not only for the NGOs,” he said. “Most of the violence has happened to community representatives in land grabs and in land violence against the Khmer Kampuchea Krom.”

The group called on the government to combat the culture of impunity and corruption by prosecuting government officials responsible for threats and attacks, including investigations into the “unresolved assassinations or disappearances” of 10 journalists since the 1990s.

Licadho also called on the government to cease arresting rights workers in the middle of their duties, to allow peaceful protests to proceed “unhindered by police obstruction of violence” and to “cease using bail as a way of threatening human rights defenders.”

“Bail is meant to avoid unnecessary pretrial detention, not as a probation mechanism to intimidate or control the activities of human rights defenders,” the group said.

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Cambodian Artists To Share Peace-Building Efforts

An American playwright who focuses on Cambodia is set to take part in a symposium with other Cambodian artists that looks at the relationship between the arts and peace building.

Catherine Filloux, a French-Algerian American who wrote the popular musical “Where Elephants Weep,” told VOA Khmer recently that Cambodian theatre artists Chhon Sina and Ieng Sithul will also travel to New York for the Theatre and Peace Building in Cambodia Symposium at Fordham University.

The symposium will be held Sept. 20 and Sept. 21. Following that, the artists will take part in a conference held by Theater Without Borders, called Acting Together on the World Stage: A Conference on Theatre and Peace Building in Conflict Zones, from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26.

On Sept. 20, she said, “We are going to be having an open rehearsal of Chhon Sina’s new play...‘Phka Champei,’ about a sex worker and victim of domestic violence who lives in a slum in Phnom Penh.”

The following day, “there will be a panel in which will be discussed issues of theatre and peace building, and we will do an excerpt from Chhon Sina’s play, and we will also have Ieng Sithul perform,” she said.

Filloux has written four plays about Cambodia, in addition to “Where Elephants Weep,” which proved widely popular.

Her plays include “Eyes of the Heart, Photographs from S-21,” about a woman who suffers from psychosomatic blindness after the Khmer Rouge regime; “Silence of God,” about Pol Pot; and “The US Complicity in What Happened in Cambodia.”

The second conference will discuss how current Cambodian artists worked following the Khmer Rouge “and have used art as a way to express human rights and also as a way to heal,” Filloux said.

Other participants come from countries like Peru and Ireland, as well as Native Americans from the US. All will have a chance to discuss parallels in their rebuilding efforts.

Rithisal Kang, a Cambodian Fulbright scholar in the US, will also attend.

“We will discuss with the guidance of peace-building scholars and practitioners a range of questions about the relationship between the arts and conflict,” he told VOA Khmer. “I believe we will learn and gain understanding of the nature of conflict, causes of violence and the meaning of peace.”

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Indochinese Fedreation University Network?

Network of universities set up between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

08/27/2010
VOV News

Directors from 42 major universities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia gathered in HCM City on August 27 to promote cooperation in tertiary education and scientific research.

They agreed to establish a network of universities in the three countries and devise a mechanism of cooperation for the network.

Representatives from 11 universities have signed memorandums of understanding on exchanges of students, lecturers, information and scientific research.

Chairman of the Social and Cultural Committee of the Lao National Assembly, Douangdy Outhachak, said that the network will help Laos develop its economy, trade and services.

He expressed his hope that Vietnamese universities will admit many Lao students and help Lao universities implement human resources training programmes.

The director of HCM City National University, Associate Professor Phan Thanh Binh said the network will lay the groundwork for cooperation among all of the region’s universities.

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Indochinese Fedreation University Network?

Network of universities set up between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

08/27/2010
VOV News

Directors from 42 major universities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia gathered in HCM City on August 27 to promote cooperation in tertiary education and scientific research.

They agreed to establish a network of universities in the three countries and devise a mechanism of cooperation for the network.

Representatives from 11 universities have signed memorandums of understanding on exchanges of students, lecturers, information and scientific research.

Chairman of the Social and Cultural Committee of the Lao National Assembly, Douangdy Outhachak, said that the network will help Laos develop its economy, trade and services.

He expressed his hope that Vietnamese universities will admit many Lao students and help Lao universities implement human resources training programmes.

The director of HCM City National University, Associate Professor Phan Thanh Binh said the network will lay the groundwork for cooperation among all of the region’s universities.

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Student Loans Remain a Heavy Risk for Lenders

More than 28,000 students graduated from 45 private and 18 state institutions last year, but the number who went on to jobs is not known. (Photo: AP)

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 26 August 2010

“A student may end up jobless after graduation, so this is a high risk business.”

A lack of protections and an unpredictable job market have made lending institutions reluctant to provide student loans, banking officials say.

Students may be hard-pressed to find work after they graduate a university or they may simply not finish school. This has led to closed doors for poor students, especially in the countryside.

“If we do this, it is very risky, because we don't know whether students will finish their educations,” Sophan Nary, deputy CEO for Acleda Bank, told VOA Khmer Tuesday. “Only if the students can earn some income to pay the bank back monthly can we consider offering them loans. Or only if they have guarantees to make sure the bank can get back the money it lent.”

But even with some guarantees, lending institutions are reluctant.

“Some students are orphans, so we need to consider the guarantees also,” said Horn Rozana, the chief executive officer’s secretary for Phnom Penh Commercial Bank.

Nearly 40,000 students graduate from high school in 2007, the latest figures from the Ministry of Education show, and officials say the number is increasing yearly. But the high cost of education means that many do not finish their university studies, which cost an average $1,600 for four years.

And with no system in place to avoid risks for lenders, much of that money has to be saved ahead of time or earned along the way.

“Unlike in developed countries where they have social security numbers for their citizens, in Cambodia an individual identity cannot be tracked down,” Chea Phalarin, general manager of Amret, a microfinance institution, said. “If the person goes to a far away province or somewhere else, how can we get him to pay back the money he owes if we do not know where he is?”

Amret will sometimes offer loans to parents, who are less risk, he said. “We can’t lend to students directly because we are not confident they can pay back the money.”

In places like the US, where student loans are common, graduates begin paying back their loans after they find employment. But in Cambodia, the job market is uncertain, creating another roadblock to lending.

More than 28,000 students graduated from 45 private and 18 state institutions last year, but the number who went on to jobs is not known.

“A student may end up jobless after graduation, so this is a high risk business,” said Kong Phean, a brand developer for Cambodia Mutual Savings and Credit Network, or CMSC.

CMSC did provide 13 students with loans in 2009, but that went to students at well-known universities who were at least in their third year.

“Those in third year are less likely to drop out of school,” Kong Phean said.

There is also a belief among some lenders that school tuition is not high enough to warrant loans.

“Tuition at the moment is still affordable for most families to support their children’s education, so the demand for student loans is still not huge,” said Bun Mony, CEO of Sathapana Ltd., a microfinance lender.

Mak Vann, a secretary of state for the Education Ministry, said the ministry wants as many students to go to university as possible, but Cambodia needs to put a system in place.

“There is still a lot more to learn, say, on how it is done in the US for example,” he said.

And the ministry does offer up as many as 4,000 scholarships a year to poor high school graduates, he said.

For students like Mok Socheat, who borrowed $400 a year ago from CMSC, loans are worth it, even if he has to pay interest.

“It helped reach my goal,” he said, having landed a job as a machine operator for an electric company after graduating from the Cambodian Institute of Technology. “Without the loans, I would probably not have finished my students and would not have this job.”

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Cambodia is training almost 1,000 soldiers to use tanks

Hun Xen's B-70 bodyguard brigade (Photo: Reuters)

22 August 2010
By Lean Delux
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The Cambodian ministry of Defense (MoD) is organizing a 2-month training for an army tank unit with the participation of more than 800 soldiers. Cambodia is currently strengthening its armed forces after Thailand threatened to use armed force to resolve its dispute with Cambodia. Recently, Thailand also ordered additional tanks and fighting planes from overseas as well.

A group of 876 soldiers from joint units of the MoD are currently being trained to increase their capacity to use tanks. The training took place more than 2 months ago. Cambodia is currently strengthening its troops capacity at a time when Cambodia is being aggressed by Thai troops and three armed clashes already took place. Furthermore, recently, the Thai PM threatened Cambodia that Thailand will use its armed force to resolve the border dispute.

During a meeting with the trained soldiers on 21 August, Tea Banh, the vice-PM and minister of Defense, indicated that tank units have strong influence during the war. On the contrary, Tea Banh indicated that the training of tank units by Cambodia at this time is not aimed at aggression or to wage war with any country.

General Chhum Socheat, MoD spokesman, told RFI that the training of troops is the norm for the army, in particular when the country is at peace, troops training is most appropriate.

It should be recalled that Cambodia and Thailand are currently disputing its common border and this led to the armed confrontation between the two armies for more than 2 years now. Recently, the Thai government ordered several dozens of jet fighting planes and tanks. 96 tanks were ordered from Ukraine at a cost of about 4 billion baths (~$12.7 million). Chhum Socheat said that Cambodia is not concerned about the Thai action. To Chhum Socheat, Cambodia has enough armaments and troops to defend its territorial integrity also (sic!?!?).

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Experts Explain Potential for Joint Criminal Enterprise

The four KR leaders in Case 002

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Friday, 20 August 2010

“By linking the accused in this way, evidence against one of them my help prove the responsibility of another.”

In their final submission for the Khmer Rouge tribunal's next case, court prosecutors said four senior leaders of the regime should be tried under Joint Criminal Enterprise.

Joint Criminal Enterprise, better known as JCE, is a complex legal theory that groups suspects together in the planning and execution of crimes, and it could be at the heart of Case 002, which tribunal officials expect to take place early next year.

In the submission, prosecutors recommended that suspects Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith “committed these crimes through a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was to enforce a political revolution in Cambodia and systematically destroy any opposition to the [Communist Party of Kampuchea's] rule.”

Tribunal legal affairs spokesman Lars Olsen explained it this way. JCE alleges that “these charged persons together decided a plan, a criminal plan, on how to run Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime.”

That plan led to atrocity crimes, for which the senior leaders can be tried together, according to prosecutors. Trial Chamber judges will have the final decision in the matter. But JCE will be complicated for a trial.

Anne Heindel, a legal adviser for the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said in an e-mail Friday that JCE is “a mode of individual criminal responsibility. That is, it shows how someone commits a crime.”

Similar “modes” include aiding a crime, planning it, ordering it, or having superior responsibility over it, she said.

And while JCE can take different forms, at its most basic it involves “a common plan among a number of individuals who all share the same intent to commit a crime,” Heindel wrote.

JCE was first applied at the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. It was also applied in the tribunal for Rwanda and in a special court for crimes in Sierra Leone.

“JCE is generally used to prosecute international crimes, but variants of it can be used in domestic prosecutions,” Heindel said. “For example, in Cambodian law, there is a similar mode of liability called 'co-perpetration.'”

In Case 002, prosectors have alleged that all four defendants are tied together, she said. “By linking the accused in this way, evidence against one of them my help prove the responsibility of another.”

“The prosecution wants to show that they all share responsibility for crimes committed in furtherance of the common plan,” she said.

JCE is merely a way of thinking of the case. And that will be up to the Trial Chamber to decide, said You Bunleng, the Cambodian investigation judge for the tribunal. Separate from that, court judges will also determine whether the four are tried in one group by other means.

JCE is only being applied for Case 002. The tribunal has two other cases in its hands, nos. 003 and 004. There has been no determination on whether to indict more suspects in those cases.

But JCE will not be used to determine indictments, Heindel said.

Prosecutors did not include torture chief Duch in their submission. Duch was handed a commuted sentence of 19 years last month after a separate trial for crimes committed at Tuol Sleng prison, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21.

Heindel said the inclusion of Duch in the second case was “unnecessary” and would have prolonged court procedures.

“The JCE alleged against the four charged persons in Case 002 encompasses many crimes in which Duch was not involved,” she said. “The alleged JCE also likely includes S-21, but it is not required that all participants in a JCE be tried in the same case. He can still be brought before the court as a witness.”

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