Rupert Skilbeck resigns

Cambodge Soir
06-08-2008

The British lawyer, Head of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal’s Defense Support Section, will assume a new position in New York.

Rupert Skilbeck, head of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal’s Defence Support Section has stepped down, announces the “Cambodia Daily” on Monday 4th of August.

The British lawyer will be assuming his new position at the Open Society Justice Initiative in New York, a legal organisation based in New York, which in February had harshly criticised the malfunctioning of the ECCC, denouncing a system of organised corruption within the tribunal.
Interviewed by the “Cambodia Daily”, Rupert Skilbeck has congratulated the tribunal for its recent progress, particularly within the context of Ieng Sary’s pre-trial hearing.

“Last month we had four-day legal arguments on the definition of amnesty, double jeopardy and pardon. This is no mean feat and it’s the first time that this happens in Cambodia. And to be honest, in many developing countries you would never see anything like that”, he said.

Moreover, in New York the United Nations have started the investigation on the accusations of corruption, said Knut Rosandhaug, deputy director in the office of administration of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. According to him, the United Nations Secretariat is in the possession of “concrete” information concerning the retrocession of salaries imposed on the employees of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

The “Cambodia Daily” of the 5th of August mentions that a memorandum had been sent on the 25th of June to the employees of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal by the head of the administration, Sean Visoth, stating that “new accusations” of corruption had been brought up.