The Mirror, Vol. 11, No. 527
“The latest report by a non-government organization based in the US shows that the progress of the Khmer Rouge tribunal is mixed with many problems causing concern. The 13-page report of the Open Society Justice Initiative [OSJI] mentioned the arrest of Nuon Chea, former Brother No. 2 and President of the National Assembly of the Khmer Rouge Regime, and of Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, the former chief of Tuol Sleng Prison, and other events moving ahead. At the same time, the OSJI expressed concern about many problems which harm the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
“The OSJI is concerned about the independence of the tribunal, that the victims have so far not participated in the tribunal, and that the Victims and Witness Protection Unit has not yet had enough money to work. The OSJI considers that this is an urgent challenge, besides expressing other concerns, such as the lack of funds for the tribunal to hold public pretrial hearings to solve some disputes relating to the accusations.
“Regarding the Khmer Rouge tribunal, an American newspaper [The Wall Street Journal] published an article on Tuesday, 25 September, pointing to irregularities in the recruitment of staff to work at this special tribunal, which was managed badly. The publication by the American newspaper left the United Nations Development Program [UNDP] with a very bad name, because the UNDP did not monitor these irregularities that massively exist at the tribunal.
“Auditors of the United Nations and a Malaysian private auditing company, which were paid to check the expenditures of the foreign aid money for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, found that the expenses were overstated up to nearly US$400,000, by stating higher staff salaries, and by stating inflated numbers of staff employed, for which the tribunal officials had no explanation; as for the UNDP, they also did not seem to be aware of these issues. The auditors also found that a number of staff members are incompetent, and that they were appointed to work without appropriate selection exams.
“As for the documents of 28 staff members who were appointed by the Cambodian government, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal did not agree to show them to the auditors to be checked. On 19 September 2007, the board for monitoring the process of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal agreed on new procedures for staff recruitment and contracts on services; however, everything seems to be vaguely implemented. This is the reason why national and international circles do have not much confidence in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, because it seems to be under political influence, and without complete independence to find justice for more than 1.7 million victims who were killed during the ‘Killing Fields’ regime. The point that makes national and international circles to have not much confidence is that since the creation of the tribunal until now, the Khmer Rouge tribunal has always had obstacles, because even the registration of foreign lawyers also suffered from annoying complicated problems.
“At present, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, the former chief of Tuol Sleng Prison – also known as S-21 – and Nuon Chea, the former president of the National Assembly of the Khmer Rouge Regime, are detained in the detention center of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, waiting for their trials. According to an official of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal who asked that his name should not be mentioned, several more former top Khmer Rouge leaders will be brought to be charged, one after the other, and the next one to be brought after Nuon Chea maybe the former president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea and head of state of the Khmer Rouge regime, Khiev Samphan, who has already prepared himself.
“Though Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, and Nuon Chea are detained in the detention center of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, national and international circles still have no confidence in finding justice for the victims, after the auditors of the United Nations and the Malaysian private auditors found corruption in spending funds of the special tribunal. Therefore national and international circles are now not so much interested in the process of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, because they know the result in advance. This means that spending of $56.3 million to find justice for the victims who were killed during the ‘Killing Fields’ regime is just not to be taken seriously under the political influence of the Cambodian government.
“For Cambodian citizens in the country and abroad, though they do not have confidence in the tribunal, they want the trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders to be conducted soon, in order to reveal who were the main leaders who created the Khmer Rouge, resulting in the criminal killing of more than 1.7 million people during a period of 3 years, 8 months, and 20 days. The reason why they want the trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders to be conducted soon is because they know that the main leaders who created the Khmer Rouge are still alive and frighteningly try to seek pretexts to escape from the net of the law. Thus, if there is a trial of Nuon Chea, the former president of the National Assembly of the Khmer Rouge regime, Nuon Chea will publicly reveal the main leadership roles who created the Khmer Rouge.
“Some criticize that the corruption in the Khmer Rouge tribunal, which the auditors of the United Nations and the Malaysian private auditors found, was revealed recently. But a tribunal that is badly affected by corruption cannot make the Khmer citizens see the light of real justice as expected. Quite to the contrary, corruption in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal can make expending $56.3 million useless.” Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.14, #3274, 27.9.2007
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1455, 27.9.2007
- Kem Sokha’s [Human Rights] Party Is Likely to Be Bankrupt Half Way [towards election]
- [Phnom Penh Municipal Police Commissioner] Touch Naroth Threatens to Remove and Punish Any Police Officials Who Demand Money from People for Issuing Identification Cards and Family Record Books
- Wicked People Ringbark Trees at Night [in attempt to make them die and claim the land – Choam Khsant, Preah Vihear]
- Active Robber in Phnom Penh Who Used AK-47 Gun Arrested [Meanchey, Phnom Penh]
Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.1, #33, 27.9.2007
- Nuon Chea: Preah Karuna [Norodom Sihanouk] Had Also an Important Role in Calling Citizens to Flee into the Jungle to Join the Resistance Movement
- Opposition Party Demands Independent National Committee for Combating Corruption
- Mr. Son Chhay [SRP parliamentarian, Phnom Penh] Asks [Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation] Hor Namhong to Intervene with Burma Not to Use Violence against Demonstrators
Koh Santepheap, Vol.40, #6155, 27.9.2007
- Senior Minister Veng Sereyvuth Takes Office in His New Position as Minister of Culture and Fine Arts
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.14, #3274, 27.9.2007
- Corruption and Irregularities in Khmer Rouge Tribunal Publicly Revealed
- Sam Rainsy: We Want to Eliminate Communist Waste [dictatorship] so Cambodia Gets Complete Democracy
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.15, #4400, 27.9.2007
- [Ms. Michelle Lee] UN Deputy Director [of the Office of Administration] of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Decides to Resign [as she will retire next year]
Sralanh Khmer, Vol.3, #515, 27.9.2007
- Hun Sen: ‘If 1.3 Billion Chinese Urinate at the Same Time, It Would Cause a Big Flood…’ [reference to an article in Le Figaro of France on the positive Cambodian relations with the big country of China]
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