Monday, 22 September 2008

Khmer Rouge Tribunal: the Council of Ministers assures that everything goes well

According to the communiqué, Duch should be judged in 2009

Cambodge Soir

21-09-2008

On Friday 19 September, the Council of Ministers published a communiqué aiming to reassure the population about the trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders. According to the Council, “everything was going well”.

In a press release of 19 September, the Council of Ministers assured that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) were functioning correctly. “Compared with other tribunals, the ECCC, with its small allocated budget, can be pleased about the transparency of their procedures and about the large number of parties involved, particularly on the victims’ side.” The investigations proceed well, assured the Council of Ministers, before adding that Duch will be judged in 2009.

Furthermore, he breached the subject of the complaints filed against some Khmer ECCC officials, members of the administration, but also against magistrates. These complaints have been brought to the UN Headquarters in New York, without transiting through the Cambodian government. The communiqué reminds however that the management of the Khmer staff falls under the authority of the Kingdom, in compliance with the agreement made with the UN. “Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister and President of Royal Task Force at the court has declared on numerous occasions that if complaints were filed before the competent Kingdom’s authorities, they would be examined”, explains the Council of Ministers. “On the 29th of August, continues the communiqué, Sok An issued an administrative circular letter which designates a system to process the received complaints.” Moreover, he is allegedly studying the first one, filed under the framework of this new procedure.

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