Defendant Must Appear Once for KR Trial To Proceed

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

By Erika Kinetz and Pin Sisovann
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

The Khmer Rouge tribunal's rules committee has tentatively agreed that
trials will be permitted if a defendant appears in court at least
once, and that victims can participate as civil parties to the court,
sources close to the tribunal said Tuesday.

By the end of its two-week deliberations Friday, the nine Cambodian
and international judges on the rules committee had agreed in
principle that if a defendant appears in court once or more, a trial
may proceed, three people close to the court said on condition of
anonymity.

In addition, the committee has tentatively agreed that victims will be
allowed to file claims as civil parties to the Extraordinary Chambers
in the Courts of Cambodia, but financial compensation has been ruled
out, another person close to the court said.

Helen Jarvis, the ECCC's chief of public affairs, declined comment
Tuesday on the question of trials in absentia and the participation of
civil parties, and said she could not comment further on the rules
committee's discussions.

The committee failed to reach a final agreement on the rules Friday,
and will meet to continue its negotiations in March.

Several international legal experts Tuesday said the provisional
agreements are consistent with international legal norms.

But Kek Galabru, president of local rights group Licadho, said there
needs to be assurance that defendants spend more than one day in the
dock.

"Why only one time? They should come all the time," she said.

The conditions under which a defendant might be allowed to leave the
courtroom after a single appearance remain unclear.

"The only way this would be a problem is if they brought someone to
trial but didn't arrest them and the person fled," one legal observer
said on condition of anonymity.

Local rights group Adhoc, among others, has argued that permitting
individual victims to file civil claims will add to the breadth of the
trial.

Youk Chang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said
compensating individuals for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge was
"impossible," but urged the court to examine the assets of the
regime's former leaders.

"There's so much money that has been routed to the Khmer Rouge, by
China, for example," he said.

"If those assets can be located and used for a public monument it
could be beneficial."

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