Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Cambodian government to stop interfering in preparations for the Khmer Rouge genocide trials, prompting an official denial yesterday that authorities had done anything wrong.
The New-York based rights group was responding to a decision last week by international and Cambodian judicial officials to delay the adoption of rules that will govern the tribunal.
The two sides said they had encountered "substantive disagreement" in their goal to adopt 110 draft rules for running the proceedings, which are expected to begin next year.
HRW accused the government of intervening.
"Acting on instructions from government officials, Cambodian personnel participating in the meeting delayed adoption of the draft rules, reversing earlier progress in the drafting process," the rights group said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Government control over the Cambodian judiciary in the Khmer Rouge tribunal has always been a grave concern," Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, was quoted as saying in the statement.
The tribunal was created by a 2003 agreement between Cambodia and the UN after years of difficult negotiations to try to seek justice for crimes committed when the Khmer Rouge held power from 1975 to 1979.
The radical policies of the now-defunct communist group led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith dismissed HRW's allegations as "politically motivated."
He said the tribunal organizers were just being "thorough" about working through complicated legal issues.
The rules cover every phase of the proceedings -- preliminary investigations, judicial investigations, the trial and appeals.
They also delineate the roles of all parties, including prosecutors, defense attorneys and defendants.
Critics have often described the Cambodian judiciary as weak, corrupt and susceptible to political influence.
Helen Jarvis, a spokeswoman for the tribunal, said there was no indication of any political interference from the Cambodian government.
But HRW said that "many of the Khmer Rouge leaders are old and increasingly frail, but until the rules are adopted, prosecutions and trials cannot move forward. Political interference has brought the whole process to a screeching halt."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese