CAMBODIA: Judge transfer raises fears of Khmer Rouge trail delay
Updated
In Cambodia, one of the judges presiding over the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders has a new job. Judge You Bunleng has been appointed President of the country's court of appeals, after the court's former president was sacked over bribery allegations. As a result, Judge You Bunleng will have to resign from the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Human rights groups fear this development might ben yet another delay to the proceedings, and say both the victims and the perpetrators of human rights abuses may die of old age before justice is served.
Presenter: Girish Sawlani
Speakers: Dr Helen Jarvis, chief of public affairs, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Kek Galabru, director, Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
Sawlani: Judge You Bunleng was sworn in on Thursday as president of Cambodia's Court of Appeal and at the same time, inducted as a member of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. The abrupt appointment according to Dr. Helen Jarvis, the chief of public affairs of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was a matter of great urgency.
Jarvis: Cambodia has newly promulgated codes of civil procedure and criminal procedure and he was selected in an emergency situation we should say - where the president of the appeals court was vacated. It was decided that he would be the best person to fulfill the role in this difficult situation. He believes that he can effect an ordely transition that would not impede the work of the extraordinary chambers.
Sawlani: She says that judge You Bunleng is confident that his transition to a new position would not effect court proceedings concerning the trials of the remaining former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Jarvis: He continues to reiterate that the work of the chambers is extremely important for himself and for the country and he's going to do nothing to interrupt that. I do not believe that this was in any way planned beforehand. We're doing all we can to make sure that there is absolutely no delay in it. He has a sound team working under him, who will remain, and he's working out with his international counterpart and the team as to how a transition can be made.
Sawlani: But human rights activists in Cambodia are afraid that this development will further delay the trials against the former Khmer Rouge leaders who were responsible for the death's of up to two million people who died of starvation, overwork and execution. One such activist is Kek Galabru, the Director of Licahdo, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, who has been following the developements.
Galabru: If he leaves the Khmer Rouge tribunal, we are afraid that this process will be delayed. We can find a lot of judges. He has a replacement. But still he is the one that worked from the beginning with the international co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde. So if you change him, his replacement, Thong Ol can come and replace him but it's not the same. He has to start from the begninning. It can take time you know.
Sawlani: As Judge You Bunleng's departure came at a crucial time during which he and fellow tribunal judge Marcel Lemonde were investigating the first cases filed by prosecutors, many observers including Licadho's Kek Galabru are becoming suspicious.
Galabru: We are always suspicious. Why this judge? Why not another judge who is not in the Khmer Rouge tribunal? Why him? This is also a big question for all of us. The civil society, we monitor this process from the beginning and anything that happens to the Khmer Rouge tribunal is taken seriously by us.
Sawlani: What are your suspicions based on?
Galabru: That someone would like to delay this process. We are not sure, but we are always suspicious.
Sawlani: Like many other Cambodians affected by the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, Kek Galabru says that it is imperative that the remaining perpetrators be brought to justice and receive the appropriate punishments.
Galabru: Almost all Cambodian people are victims of this Khmer Rouge period. Like me, I was not here, but I lost fifteen members of my family. So all of us would like to see justice - would like to see that this impunity cannot go on. Can you imagine a group of people were responsible for almost two million deaths and no one was prosecuted. We cannot accept that.
