waltky
Wise ol' monkey
Cambodia bringin' the Khmer Rouge to trial...
Leaked document casts doubt on impartiality of Khmer Rouge judges
June 8, 2011 : As the UN-backed tribunal prepares to bring more former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial, a confidential document obtained by the Monitor raises questions about the judges' independence.
Leaked document casts doubt on impartiality of Khmer Rouge judges
June 8, 2011 : As the UN-backed tribunal prepares to bring more former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial, a confidential document obtained by the Monitor raises questions about the judges' independence.
As an international tribunal prepares to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial beginning June 27, a confidential document obtained by The Christian Science Monitor raises questions about the UN-backed courts ability to independently prosecute members of the brutal regime. The 2008 court document reveals when tribunal prosecutors laid out their case against two former military commanders, they requested that the investigating judges detain them.
The level of detail in the document builds a strong case against the commanders, but the judges ignored the request to detain them and didnt even summon the suspects for questioning during 20 months of investigation. The judges lack of response underscores concerns about their ability to carry out their duties. When they announced April 29 that they had concluded their investigation, many victims and observers were outraged, pointing out that investigators failed to question suspects and witnesses, or even inspect sites that could contain mass graves.
[This] could in no way amount to an investigation in the eyes of any reasonable observer and is nothing short of a slap in the face to the millions of victims of the Khmer Rouge, says Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR). On Tuesday, the coinvestigating judges rejected a request by International Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley to extend the investigation, sparking a new round of criticism from observers and watchdog groups.
If the judges had ever been serious about carrying out their legal obligations, as well as their ethical ones, they would be looking for a way to conduct the investigations with thoroughness and precision, says Clair Duffy of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Instead they've availed themselves of every opportunity to shut them down. She adds that it was particularly disturbing that the judges treated allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity with such flippancy.
Two new suspects