Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, center, stands in the dock as judges come into the courtroom for a hearing Monday, June 30, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ieng Sary appeared before Cambodia's genocide tribunal Monday to press for his release from pretrial detention. (AP Photo/Nguyen Tan Kiet, POOL)By KER MUNTHIT
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Lawyers defending a former Khmer Rouge foreign minister argued Wednesday that a 12-year-old royal pardon exempts him from prosecution by Cambodia's genocide tribunal.
In a rebuttal, the prosecution said the pardon was improper and should be scrapped.
The United Nations-assisted court has charged Ieng Sary, 82, with crimes against humanity and war crimes. Wednesday marked the third day of a hearing on his appeal from release from pretrial detention, with proceedings to continue Thursday.
Ieng Sary is one of five former senior Khmer Rouge officials being held by the tribunal, which is attempting to establish accountability for an estimated 1.7 million deaths under the communist group's rule from 1975 to 1979.
Mounting a fresh challenge against the prosecution, Ieng Sary's defense team used the appeals hearing to urge the chamber to consider the pardon granted by former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk in 1996.
Ieng Sary was condemned to death by a tribunal under a communist government that was installed in Cambodia by Vietnamese troops after they toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The tribunal was a show trial, with no real effort to present a defense.
The king pardoned him as a reward for leading some Khmer Rouge to break away from the movement and join the government, a move that foreshadowed the group's collapse in 1999 and brought an end to the civil war.
"When you look at Ieng Sary today, in spite of the past history, the royal decree ... was not given lightly. They (the government and former king) recognize him as an agent of peace, as someone who would be able to stop the war, and that's why it was granted," said Michael Karnavas, an American defense lawyer.
Prosecutors must "prove that there is a well-founded reason that the royal pardon and amnesty shall not be upheld," said Ang Udom, Ieng Sary's Cambodian lawyer.
He said the defendant should be released "immediately and without conditions" if the pretrial chamber recognizes the pardon.
Prosecutor Yet Chakriya asked the court to nullify the pardon since under Cambodian law convicts must serve two-thirds of their sentences before pardons can be granted.
But Ieng Sary "has never served his sentence, not even a single day," said Yet Chakriya, urging the court "to stop the culture of impunity enjoyed by the leaders of the country who had committed serious crimes" against their own people.
Ieng Sary is the only defendant before the tribunal who has already been tried and pardoned.
On Tuesday, Ieng Sary's lawyers argued that trying their client violates constitutional double-jeopardy principles because he had already been convicted by the 1979 tribunal on similar charges and pardoned. But prosecutors countered that the current case is based on a different set of facts.
The defense has also argued that Ieng Sary should be released from pretrial detention because ill health has made him unable to fully assist his lawyers.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Lawyers defending a former Khmer Rouge foreign minister argued Wednesday that a 12-year-old royal pardon exempts him from prosecution by Cambodia's genocide tribunal.
In a rebuttal, the prosecution said the pardon was improper and should be scrapped.
The United Nations-assisted court has charged Ieng Sary, 82, with crimes against humanity and war crimes. Wednesday marked the third day of a hearing on his appeal from release from pretrial detention, with proceedings to continue Thursday.
Ieng Sary is one of five former senior Khmer Rouge officials being held by the tribunal, which is attempting to establish accountability for an estimated 1.7 million deaths under the communist group's rule from 1975 to 1979.
Mounting a fresh challenge against the prosecution, Ieng Sary's defense team used the appeals hearing to urge the chamber to consider the pardon granted by former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk in 1996.
Ieng Sary was condemned to death by a tribunal under a communist government that was installed in Cambodia by Vietnamese troops after they toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The tribunal was a show trial, with no real effort to present a defense.
The king pardoned him as a reward for leading some Khmer Rouge to break away from the movement and join the government, a move that foreshadowed the group's collapse in 1999 and brought an end to the civil war.
"When you look at Ieng Sary today, in spite of the past history, the royal decree ... was not given lightly. They (the government and former king) recognize him as an agent of peace, as someone who would be able to stop the war, and that's why it was granted," said Michael Karnavas, an American defense lawyer.
Prosecutors must "prove that there is a well-founded reason that the royal pardon and amnesty shall not be upheld," said Ang Udom, Ieng Sary's Cambodian lawyer.
He said the defendant should be released "immediately and without conditions" if the pretrial chamber recognizes the pardon.
Prosecutor Yet Chakriya asked the court to nullify the pardon since under Cambodian law convicts must serve two-thirds of their sentences before pardons can be granted.
But Ieng Sary "has never served his sentence, not even a single day," said Yet Chakriya, urging the court "to stop the culture of impunity enjoyed by the leaders of the country who had committed serious crimes" against their own people.
Ieng Sary is the only defendant before the tribunal who has already been tried and pardoned.
On Tuesday, Ieng Sary's lawyers argued that trying their client violates constitutional double-jeopardy principles because he had already been convicted by the 1979 tribunal on similar charges and pardoned. But prosecutors countered that the current case is based on a different set of facts.
The defense has also argued that Ieng Sary should be released from pretrial detention because ill health has made him unable to fully assist his lawyers.
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