Chapter Six
Last Week at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal:
The Tribunal saw a flurry of activity with the passing of July 1st. For Case 002/02, both defendants filed their notices of appeal. The Office of the Co-Investigative Judges issued two Closing Orders for Case 004, and terminated the rest of the investigation in this case. Further, the International Co-Investigating Judge resigned after issuing this Closing Order.
Case 002/02
Nuon Chea filed his notice of appeal, listing 351 grounds of appeal against the Trial Chamber’s judgment. Pol Pot’s “right-hand man” listed three tiers of errors—errors that nullified the entire judgment, errors the invalidated a series of convictions, and errors that negated individual convictions. The grounds included violations to his fair trial rights, including claims that the tribunal was neither independent nor impartial; errors of law, including a claim that the burden of proof was pushed onto the defense, instead of the Co-Prosecutors; and errors of law and of fact, including claims that the Trial Chamber erroneously recharacterized the crime of extermination brought by the Co-Prosecutors to the crime of murder.
Nuon Chea was also in the news this week, as the 92 year old he has been hospitalized. Newspapers reported that Nuon Chea has an ulcer on his toe, but his illness is not life-threatening.
Khieu Samphan’s defense team filed two documents this last week. The first document was his notice of appeal. The notice was filed in French, and has yet to be translated into English. However, Khieu Samphan alleged over 1,800 grounds of appeal against the Trial Chamber’s judgment.
The defense team also filed a request for an annulment of the Supreme Court’s Decision on an Urgent Appeal. Last November, after the Trial Chamber issued a summary of the judgment against the two defendants, Khieu Samphan filed an Urgent Appeal against this Summary. This was before the Trial Chamber published the fully written judgment. The Supreme Court Chamber, however, declared that this appeal was not admissible. Over the last few months, the Supreme Court Chamber has appointed a new judge. The defense team is arguing that this decision, declaring the Urgent Appeal as inadmissible, should be annulled. Because of the irregularity of the panel of judges, the defense team claims that the Supreme Court Chamber should render a new decision that conforms with Khieu Samphan’s right to due process.
Case 004
Case 004 concerns Yim Tith, who is potentially facing charges for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and premeditated homicide. Yim Tith is said to be a former Zone Secretary for the Khmer Rouge. The Co-Investigating Judges filed separate Closing Orders for this case. The International Co-Investigating Judge maintains that Yim Tith falls within the personal jurisdiction of the Tribunal as one of the most responsible persons of the Khmer Rouge. The International Judge indicted Yim Tith for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and domestic offenses, but also dismissed several charges. The National Co-Investigating Judge claims that Yim Tith did not fall within the personal jurisdiction of the Tribunal, because he did not have a high enough level of participation. Both Co-Investigating Judges signed an order together that terminated the remained of the investigation of this case, which marks the end of all investigations before the Co-Investigating Judges. Following this order, International Co-Investigating Judge resigned.
For more, see https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en.