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| Prosecutor and judges bought out by Hun Xen
Critics
have accused Ms. Chea and the investigating judges, German Siegfried
Blunk and Cambodian You Bunleng, of bowing to political pressure.
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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 court’s
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 didn’t
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
About
one quarter of Cambodia’s population died from starvation, forced
labor, disease, or execution during the regime’s reign from 1975 until
1979. A Khmer Rouge prison chief was sentenced last year, while four
top regime leaders are expected to begin trial in June for allegedly
orchestrating policies that killed approximately 2 million people.
The 2008 document outlines the case against two additional suspects – Khmer Rouge Air Force Commander Sou Met, and Navy Commander Meas Mut. Prosecutors alleged they share responsibility for crimes including torture, killing, and the forced labor of tens of thousands of people.
“In
particular, Sou Met and Meas Mut participated in a criminal plan to
purge the RAK [Revolutionary Army of Kampuchia] of all undesirable
elements, which resulted in at least thousands and quite probably tens
of thousands of deaths,” the prosecutors alleged.
Resistance to proceeding with the trial
Cambodian
Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly expressed opposition to
expanding the scope of prosecution, even telling UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon that he would not allow more cases to go forward. He has
warned that pursuing further cases could spark political violence.
Echoing
government rhetoric is Chea Leang, the Cambodian prosecutor in the
hybrid tribunal, which assigns national and international staff to each
role. She issued a statement on May 10 saying the case should be
dropped.
Critics have accused Ms. Chea and the investigating judges, German Siegfried Blunk and Cambodian You Bunleng, of bowing to political pressure.
“Any appearance of independence at this institution is long since gone,” says Ou of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.
The
judges strongly denied such claims in a May 26 statement, saying they
“have worked independently from outside interference, and will continue
to resist all such attempts and are resolved to defend their
independence against outside interference, wherever it may come from.”
Close observers of the court, however, have noted difficulties prosecutors have faced in bringing more than five Khmer Rouge leaders to trial.
“The
Cambodian government doesn’t want the cases to move forward, the
Cambodian prosecutor is under pressure from that side, and the
international community doesn’t want to pay for it,” said Ann Heindel, a legal advisor with the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge history.
Despite
such resistance, prosecutors built cases against a further handful of
suspects, including Sou and Meas, who are the only suspects named in
the document.
The case that was built
In addition to their military roles, the court submission claims they
were influential figures in the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), as
the regime’s political entity was known, with Sou obtaining “one of
the highest ranks within the CPK.” Both attended meetings where planned
purges of the armed forces were discussed, prosecutors claimed.
“Sou Met and Meas Mut were often present at these meetings and described their success in implementing the purge,” according to the document.
As navy commander, Meas also controlled Cambodia’s coast, where prosecutors allege that his sailors captured and killed Thai and Vietnamese fishermen, and abducted nationals of other countries including “at least four Westerners.”
Also
according to the document, a commander who reported directly to Sou
was responsible for overseeing the construction of a military airport
that also functioned as a “re-education or tempering site” for soldiers
suspected of harboring disloyalty toward the regime. Witnesses
interviewed by the prosecution described horrific conditions at the
construction site, where starving workers perished daily as a result of
“strenuous and unrelenting labor.”
“Those
who did not work to the satisfaction of the guards were often executed
in the forest just west of the airfield site,” according to witness
accounts.
The
document details similar atrocities carried out at other sites. These
included a Buddhist temple used as a detention center, and a rock
quarry where prisoners included fishermen, navy sailors, and “people
whose relatives had been members of the previous regime.”
Cayley
has the option to seek permission from the court to appeal to the
pretrial chamber, which has the power to order the investigating judges
to reopen their investigation.
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