Documents likely stolen from Khmer Rouge leader's defence
Thu, Jun 04, 2009
AFP
PHNOM PENH - A Khmer Rouge leader's defence lawyer at Cambodia's
UN-backed war crimes trial said Thursday that confidential documents
appeared to have been stolen from his office.
Michiel Pestman, the Dutch defence lawyer for the former
regime's ideologue Nuon Chea, said he became aware of the 'security
incident' Wednesday when he found four confidential papers from his office
floating in a pond at the court.
'We have no explanation. What we do know is that the documents
should have been shredded. They were not, and they were most probably stolen
from our office,' Pestman told reporters.
'We have serious concerns about security and the confidentiality
of our investigation,' he said.
Pestman said that the tribunal's security team would conduct an
investigation into the probable theft of the documents, which were drafts of
a letter to a court official.
A court spokesman would not immediately comment on the
allegations. The troubled tribunal, which is currently trying former Khmer
Rouge prison chief Duch, also faces accusations of political interference by
the government and claims that Cambodian staff were forced to pay kickbacks
for their jobs.
Duch has stated that he took orders to kill and torture from
Pestman's client Nuon Chea, who is commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge
'Brother Number Two'.
Others in detention awaiting trial besides Nuon Chea are former
head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, and
minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 before facing justice,
and fears over the health of ageing suspects hang over the court.
The long-awaited first trial has heard Duch, whose real name is
Kaing Guek Eav, acknowledge responsibility and beg forgiveness for
overseeing the torture and execution of more than 15,000 people at the
notorious Tuol Sleng prison.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation,
disease and overwork as the Khmer Rouge movement emptied cities and enslaved
the population on collective farms in its bid to create a communist utopia.
Copyright ©2009 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.
Independently Searching for the Truth since 1997.
MEMORY & JUSTICE
Youk Chhang, Director
Documentation Center of Cambodia
P.O. Box 1110
66 Sihanouk Blvd.,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
t: +855 23 211 875
f: +855 23 210 358
h: +855 12 905 595
e: dccam@online.com.kh
www.dccam.org
Observing the ECCC. Daily Report; please visit: www.cambodiatribunal.org
Transform the River of Blood into a River of Reconciliation. A River of Responsibility.
Break the Silence.
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.
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