Khmer Rouge court calls government witnesses

AFP
7 October 2009

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes court has summoned six top government and legislative officials as witnesses against leaders of the late 1970s regime, said documents released Wednesday.

In a move opposed by the Cambodian government, letters signed by the French investigating judge called on the officials to testify in the second case against former Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Current senate president Chea Sim, national assembly president Heng Samrin, foreign minister Hor Namhong, finance minister Keat Chhon and senators Sim Ka and Ouk Bunchhoeun were each "asked for a hearing as a witness," said the letters.

They will have to give testimony to an investigating judge of the tribunal, which was created in 2006 to try leading members of the regime.

"Except for individuals who volunteer to go, the government's position is no to this even if they are called as witnesses," government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP Wednesday.

He said that foreign officials involved in the tribunal "can pack their clothes and return home" if they are not satisfied.

However Heather Ryan, court monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative, said the move to release the court documents was an "important step" which might make members of government feel obliged to cooperate with the tribunal.

"The fact that the letters are public hopefully increases the chances they will comply with the summonses," Ryan said.

Critics of Cambodia's administration have previously alleged that it has interfered in the tribunal to protect former regime members now in government.

The court's second case is expected to try detained former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith.

As the court has sought to investigate other suspects, Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned further prosecutions could plunge Cambodia back into civil war. But critics say there is no risk of more fighting after over a decade of peace.

Final arguments in the court's first trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known by the alias Duch, are scheduled for late next month.

He has used the proceedings to accept responsibility and apologise for overseeing the execution of more than 15,000 people at the main Khmer Rouge jail, known as Tuol Sleng.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

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Source: AFP Google News Alert

Hamill to testify before Khmer Rouge tribunal

Last updated 06:53 27/07/2009

One day short of 31 years after his brother was abducted, tortured and killed by Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia, Rob Hamill is to testify before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

Kerry Hamill ended up at the S-21 or Tuol Sleng prison headed by Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, when the yacht he and friends were sailing strayed into Cambodian waters on August 13, 1978.

One crewman, Canadian Stuart Glass, was shot while Mr Hamill and Briton John Dewhirst were taken for interrogation and torture for two months before being killed.

Mr Hamill, like the estimated 17,000 who entered Tuol Sleng's gates, was forced to make confessions and he claimed to be a CIA spy.

Duch is the first of Pol Pot's henchmen to face trial before the joint UN-backed Cambodian-international court, officially called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), on which New Zealand judge Dame Silvia Cartwright is one of the five judges.

Hamill is to testify on August 12.

"I expect to experience the widest possible range of emotions when I see Duch," Hamill said.

"A lot of nervous energy will be expended."

When the trial opened in April Duch apologised for heading the prison but said he was acting on orders.

"Duch says he is sorry and wants forgiveness, but I want to find out whether he truly understands the impact of what he did and the damage he caused," Hamill said.

"I'm not sure that he does comprehend what he and the Khmer Rouge did to the people of Cambodia, let alone to the families of Kerry, John and Stuart."

A documentary, Brother No 1, telling Hamill's story is being produced by Annie Goldson, James Bellamy and Hamill for Pan Pacific Films, funded by NZ on Air and TV3.

Duch faces charges including crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of the Cambodian penal code including premeditated murder. Up to 2 million people died of starvation, overwork, torture or were executed during the 1975-1979 regime.

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Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/2676240/Hamill-to-testify-before-Khmer-Rouge-tribunal