Khmer Rouge Tribunal Update

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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)

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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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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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Stonewalling

Two years and seveninternationalinvestigations later, basicquestions of

accountability remainunanswered

Cambodian authorities

have stonewalled anddenied wrongdoing.


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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.

Khmer Rouge Tribunal Update

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