smh.com.au
The Sydney Morning Herald
Suy Se in Phnom Penh
February 19, 2009
LAWYERS at the trial of the Khmer Rouge's chief torturer argued over the use of a film showing the liberation of the prison where he allegedly oversaw the deaths of 15,000 Cambodians.
Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal launched an initial hearing in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, on Tuesday. It wrapped up yesterday and full hearings are expected to start next month.
Prosecutors told the court they wanted to introduce as evidence a film shot by Vietnamese forces showing conditions at the prison two days after they helped to drive the Khmer Rouge regime out of Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979.
"It is an absolute must for this trial chamber to have all available evidence," said co-prosecutor Robert Petit, adding that they wanted to call the cameraman and other witnesses related to the video.
However a defence lawyer, Kar Savuth, questioned the authenticity of the evidence, and argued it should be considered a Vietnamese propaganda film. "We the defence regard this video footage as having political motivation in nature to disguise the truth of the nature of the event," he said.
The video shows scenes of horror inside the abandoned prison, which was a former high school, including several bloated corpses strapped to iron bed frames where they were apparently tortured and then died.
It also shows five children who survived the retreat of the Khmer Rouge from the jail by hiding in a pile of washing.
Duch, a former maths teacher now aged 66, could be seen listening impassively to the arguments through headphones on the second day of the trial's initial hearing.
Lawyers also presented lists of witnesses, before the chief judge Nil Nonn announced the end of the initial hearing after just a day and a half.
He did not say when the trial would reopen, but a court spokeswoman, Helen Jarvis, said that substantive hearings with witness testimony was likely to begin in "late March".
Agence France-Presse
Suy Se in Phnom Penh
February 19, 2009
LAWYERS at the trial of the Khmer Rouge's chief torturer argued over the use of a film showing the liberation of the prison where he allegedly oversaw the deaths of 15,000 Cambodians.
Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal launched an initial hearing in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, on Tuesday. It wrapped up yesterday and full hearings are expected to start next month.
Prosecutors told the court they wanted to introduce as evidence a film shot by Vietnamese forces showing conditions at the prison two days after they helped to drive the Khmer Rouge regime out of Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979.
"It is an absolute must for this trial chamber to have all available evidence," said co-prosecutor Robert Petit, adding that they wanted to call the cameraman and other witnesses related to the video.
However a defence lawyer, Kar Savuth, questioned the authenticity of the evidence, and argued it should be considered a Vietnamese propaganda film. "We the defence regard this video footage as having political motivation in nature to disguise the truth of the nature of the event," he said.
The video shows scenes of horror inside the abandoned prison, which was a former high school, including several bloated corpses strapped to iron bed frames where they were apparently tortured and then died.
It also shows five children who survived the retreat of the Khmer Rouge from the jail by hiding in a pile of washing.
Duch, a former maths teacher now aged 66, could be seen listening impassively to the arguments through headphones on the second day of the trial's initial hearing.
Lawyers also presented lists of witnesses, before the chief judge Nil Nonn announced the end of the initial hearing after just a day and a half.
He did not say when the trial would reopen, but a court spokeswoman, Helen Jarvis, said that substantive hearings with witness testimony was likely to begin in "late March".
Agence France-Presse
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