Court To Try Duch

By Soy Sophea

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) announced that a three-day hearing for the Khmer Rouge Prison Chief Kaing Kek Iev, alias Duch, will start at 10 a.m. on March 30.

Discussions will center on the creation of Tuol Sleng, known as S-21. Iev, 66, faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder for his role as the
Chief of Tuol Sleng and other sites, where at least 12,000 Cambodians were tortured and killed.

His trial will be the first of five jailed leaders of the regime in a tribunal that has been more than 10 years in the making. The courtroom is expected to receive an audience of 500 people.

More than 500 people have registered so far to watch, including aid and development workers, diplomats, students and Cambodians citizens, according to Mao Vutha, who is in charge of registering people at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

He added that the court aims to provide access and information on its activities to media representatives, both local and international. Within the week, ECCC set a pretrial for Ieng Sary, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Khmer Rouge regime, for April 2 addressing his appeal against the temporarily detention.

The ECCC also scheduled to hear the appeal against the temporary detention of Khieu Samphon, former Head of State of the Khmer Rouge regime, for April 3, according to Reach Sambath, a press officer at ECCC. He said the hearing is very important no only for Cambodia but also the world justice.

The Office of Co-Investigating Judges (OCIJ) announced they would publish an increased number of documents with regard to the ongoing judicial investigation, as authorized by Rule 56(2) of the ECCC Internal Rules, with the aim of improving public information while respecting the protection of privacy and the presumption of innocence, and ensuring the effectiveness of investigations, according to a statement of ECCC on March 26.

Since then, the statement continued, OCIJ has been carefully examining case file documents to determine which of them may be placed on the ECCC website.

Accordingly, as a first step, OCIJ decided to make public all documents relating to the whether Joint Criminal Enterprise may be applied before the ECCC. The documents include the original request by a defense team that the concept be declared inapplicable, dated July 28, 2008; the response by the Co-Prosecutors, dated August 11, 2008; the order by the Co-Investigating Judges requesting comments from all the parties, September 16, 2008; and the briefs filed by the parties under our Order, dated November 24, and December 24, 30 and 31, 2008, said the statement.

“Of course, once the Judges have reached a decision with respect to this issue, it will also be published,” the statement said.