Cambodian Prime Minister Must Halt Interference in Khmer Rouge Tribunal

NEW YORK/PHNOM PENH—Prime Minister Hun Sen’s announcement that he will block the progress of further cases at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal represents an unacceptable attempt to strangle the court, said the Open Society Justice Initiative today.

“Hun Sen has just raised the stakes for the court dramatically,” said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. “The tribunal has no choice but to proceed expeditiously with Cases 003/004 to establish that it does not take orders from the government.” 

The international prosecutor sent Cases 003/004—naming five additional suspects—to the Office of Co-Investigating Judges for formal judicial investigation in September 2009. Since then, government officials have made their opposition to the cases clear. Little substantive investigation has been done on the cases to date, and all of it by international officials of the court without the assistance of Cambodian staff. 

In a meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he would not allow Case 003 to progress. Cambodia’s Foreign Minister reiterated this in a public announcement. 

“The United Nations cannot stand silent in the face of the Cambodian government’s blatant defiance of judicial independence,” said Goldston. “The UN must publicly condemn such statements and demand that political interference cease if the UN is to continue to support the court.”

Minimum fair trial standards require that individuals be tried before a competent, independent, and impartial court. Political interference undermines the entire tribunal. The Open Society Justice Initiative will issue a completion strategy report addressing these issues in greater detail next month.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is a hybrid court mandated to try “senior leaders” and “those most responsible” for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge against some 1.7 million Cambodians from 1975 to 1979.