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8/11/2019 Khmer Rouge Tribunal Update
1/7
Khmer Rouge Tr ibunal Update
Sophal Ear, Ph.D. ([email protected])
http://faculty.nps.edu/sear
Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs
6 September 2009
Delivered at Renaissance Weekend, Monterey Plaza Hotel
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In Last Tuesdays WSJ Asia)
2
TU E SDAY , SE PTEMBER I , 2009
EDITORIALS
l
OPINION
THE
WALL
STREET JOURNA L.
Cambodian 'Justice'
By So
phal Ea
r
While my mother, four sihlings and I
escaped Pol Pot's Cambodia in 1976, my
father died of dysentery and malnutri
tion after a brief stay at it mite-infested
Khmer Rouge h o s p i t a L ~ Although I have
harbored grave doubts about the ability
of the Khmer Rou ge Tribunal underway
in Plmom Penll to punish the guilty, I
hoped for tile best and even filed a civil
complaint with the Tribu-
Confidence in
the
Tribunal was fur
ther
shaken by t he resignation in May of
Keat Bophal, the Cambodian head of the
victims unit and an experienced lIuman
rights defender. She was replaced on
May
18
by Helen Jarvis, an Australian
citizen, in a move to strengthen tile
Tribunal. Several
years
ago
Ms.
Jarvis
was awarded Cambodian citizenship for
her
many years
of
loyal service to the
authorities .
nal's victims unit last year.
But I can no longer in
good conscience sit back in
silence and watcll this the
ater of the absurd.
As
with
so many
other
do
nor-financed projer.ts,
The
Tribuna l
s
t up in 2006 to
bri ng justice to millions of
Khmer Rouge victims- lias
been mired in an endless
st
ream of co rru ption and
m i s m n ~ g e m e n t
l l e g ~
Without m
aj
or
personnel
changes, the
Khmer Rouge
trial risks
descending into
farc
e,
Ms. Jarvis 's iodepen
denr.e came under fur-
ther question in May
when Michiel Pest man, a
defense lawyer for one
of the Khmer Rouge de
fendants, Nuon Cllea,
discovered a 2006 open
letter
written by the
Leninist Party FaCTion
of the Democrat ic So
cialist Perspective. an
Australi an politica l
tioos.
The latest news came 00 August 11,
when Uth Chhorn w ~ s named to the
court as an independent counselor. Mr.
Chhorn is Cambodia's auditor-general
and heads
the
seveo-year-old Natiooal
Aud it Authority, which is supposed to
audit the government's activities. It has
yet to make a single report public. His
appoiotment was sanctioned by the
Un
ited
Na
tio ns, which manages the
court alongside the Cambodiao govern
ment.
This news is only the most recent
windowdressing in the Tribunal's brief
history. In February 2007, a kickback
scheme was exposed by the George So
rosfuoded Open Society Justice Initia
tive. Two
years
and seven international
investigations late
r,
basic questions of
accountability remaio uoanswered. The
Cambodian authorities have s tonewalled
and denied wrongdoing.
party, and signed by Ms.
Jarvis and her husband. It provides
a diSTurbing window into
The
mind
of a person who played a key role in
the Tribunal as its chief of public af
fairs until her redeploymenT earlier
this year
to
hand le victims' com
plaints :
We too are Marxists and believe
that 'the ends justify the means.'.
In time of revolution and civil war,
the most extreme measures will
som
et
imes become necessa ry and
jus
tified. Against the bourgeOisie and
their state agencies we don't respect
their laws and their fake moral prin
c i p l e s . ~ Ms . Jarvis refused to com
ment publicly about the letter. At a June
10 press
conference, a U.
N.
legal commu+
nicat ions officer sa id that Knut Rosaod
haug, deputy
director
of the Tribuna l
and coordinato r of
U.N.
assistance to the
Tribunal , fully suppor
ts
the appoint
ment of Dr. Jarvis as the new head of
tile victims unit. Never mind victims,
their concerns, and t heir r ights.
To be sure, a coter ie of other left
leaning academics and
co
ntemporaries
of Ms. Jarvis were to varying degrees
little more than apologists for the Kh
mer Rouge during their reign of terror,
including the late Malcolm Caldwell and
linguist Noam Chomsky.
t the
time, Mr.
Chomsky hedged his statements of sup
port for the Khmer Rouge with caveats
that could later orovide olausible deni-
abi lity. But he and others praised the
wo rk of Ca ldwell and Kilmer Rouge
group i
es
George Hildebrand and Gareth
Po
r
ter
whose Cambodia: Starvati on and
Revolution (Montllly Review Press,
1976) ranks with
Wal
ter Durranty's New
Yo rk Times coverage of Stalinist Russia.
Altllougll t he Tribuna l has slluffled
personnel, the wrong people are leaving.
Ms. Keat 's exit deprives the court of
both credibility aod a passionate de
fender
of
victims' rights. Interoationa l
co-prosecutor Robe rt Petit will retire
from the court next week because of ob
ligations to return to wo rk for the Cana
dian government. Mr. Petit gained ac
claim for insisting tllat the Tribun
al try
more than five individuals- cont rary to
the Cambodian autllorities' wislles. Tile
bungled test imo
nies in mid-July
of \'lritnesses such
as a nurse aod a
deputy head of
5+21,
a notorious
Khmer Rouge
torture center,
were an embar
rassing comedy
of errors fo r the
Tribunal's judges,
lawyers and vic
tims alike.
The record of
the
past two
years suggests
the Tribuna l isn 't
serious
about
de
live ring rea l jus
tice. The bes t
way to correct
this co urse is
fo
r
the court to re
boot
with
a new
set of pe rsonnel,
incl uding the di
rector of admin
ist ration, deputy
director and head of the victims unit.
We, the victims, dese rve no less.
Mr. E
ar is
an
assiSltml profes$()r of
rIO
tional SiXurity affairs at the U S Naval
f ?stKradllote School
in
or erey, Califor-
ma
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3
Whats the Matter with the Khmer
Rouge Tr ibunal?
Started in 2006 with UNparticipation
Mired in an endless streamof corruption and
mismanagementallegations
February 2007, a kickbackscheme exposed by the
George Soros-fundedOpen Society JusticeInitiative
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4
Stonewalling
Two years and seveninternationalinvestigations later, basicquestions of
accountability remainunanswered
Cambodian authorities
have stonewalled anddenied wrongdoing.
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6
Wr ong People Are Leaving
Human Rights defenderleaves after she cannotget anything donebecause of institutional
obstruction International Co-Prosecutor who wantedto indict more than the
current five has left Victims boycotting
Tribunal because notallowed to question
accused
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Conclusion:
Reboot Tr ibunal
Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors
Record of past two yearssuggests the Tribunalisnt serious aboutdelivering real justice.
Best way to correct thiscourse is for the court toreboot with a new set ofpersonnel, including the
director ofadministration, deputydirector and head of thevictims unit.