Three decades after their reign of terror, four Khmer Rouge leaders are finally to go on trial, but the case poses a major challenge and has been described as “the most complex since Nuremberg.”
A UN-backed tribunal on Thursday indicted four former members of the regime for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the deaths of up to two million people between 1975 and 1979.
The accused, whose trial is expected to begin early next year, are “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, his wife and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith and former head of state Khieu Samphan.
“Some people have said, and I believe they are right, that this is the most complex trial since the Nuremberg trials,” said outgoing co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde, referring to the landmark Nazi trial after World War II.
The indictments set the stage for the second trial at the hybrid court — made up of Cambodian and international legal officials — following a landmark conviction in July that saw former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav sentenced to 30 years for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 men, women and children.
The second case promises to be even more challenging, with all four defendants denying the charges against them.
“You have four senior Khmer Rouge members instead of just the one and they are not cooperating with the court,” said Anne Heindel, a legal expert at the Documentation Center of Cambodia which researches Khmer Rouge atrocities.
“The scope of the investigation is much broader and covers multiple crime scenes all over Cambodia,” unlike the first trial, which just focused on one prison, she added.
Indeed, the indictment file for the second case extends to more than 350,000 pages, contains 46 interviews with the accused and 11,600 pieces of evidence.
Another worry for the upcoming trial is that the government — which counts many former Khmer Rouge members among its ranks — might try to interfere.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a mid-level cadre before turning against the movement, said last year he would “prefer for this court to fail” than see new cases opened.
When Lemonde summoned six senior members of the ruling party to appear before the tribunal last year, they simply refused — with backing from the government.
A government spokesman said at the time that if that decision displeased foreign officials, “they can pack up their clothes and return home.”
“There have been accusations of political interference from the start of the tribunal and even during the negotiation process that preceded it,” said Alex Hinton, executive director at the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
“It’s important to keep an eye on such allegations, of course, but it’s also critical to note that the first trial was a clear success and this bodes well for case two,” he said.
The cash-strapped tribunal, established in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the UN and Cambodia, recently appealed for more funds.
However, the controversies may mean foreign donors are reluctant to hand over more money.
Besides readying for the second case, the tribunal is investigating whether to open new cases against other Khmer Rouge cadres.
Lemonde, who on Thursday said he was leaving the court after four years to focus on other projects, was in favor of pursuing five additional suspects, but he met with resistance from his Cambodian counterpart.
“Now that Lemonde has resigned, we will wait and see what happens,” said Thun Saray, president of the rights group ADHOC.
However, the French judge himself said that despite “all the difficulties we have encountered,” it was important to have the tribunal in Cambodia.
“We could perhaps organize the trial in international courts with international judges ... but this would not exactly be bringing justice to the Cambodian people. We have to bring the justice in a way that the ordinary Cambodian can understand,” he said.
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