By SOPHENG CHEANG, Associated Press Writer Sopheng Cheang, Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A prosecutor at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal has
formally recommended that five more suspects be investigated for crimes
against humanity and other offenses, setting the legal body on a collision
course with the country's powerful prime minister.
A statement from the tribunal Tuesday said the acting international
co-prosecutor, William Smith of Australia, submitted his recommendation to
the co-investigating judges, who would then decide whether to issue arrest
warrants.
Citing the confidentiality of the process, the tribunal announcement did not
identify the five new suspects. It said the cases involved at least 32
instances of murder, torture, unlawful detention, forced labor, and
persecution that constituted violations of Cambodian and international law.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly spoken out against expanding
the list of defendants beyond the one now on trial — Kaing Guek Eav, also
known as Duch, — and four others in custody.
On Monday, Hun Sen said such action could lead to civil war, a claim doubted
by his critics.
"I would like to tell you that if you prosecute (more leaders) without
thinking beforehand about national reconciliation and peace, and if war
breaks out again and kills 20,000 or 30,000 people, who will be
responsible?" Hun Sen said.
The tribunal's Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed further indictments, but the
tribunal last week ruled that his international counterpart could seek them.
The tribunal, created last year under an agreement reached in 2003 between
Cambodia and the United Nations, employs joint teams of Cambodian and
international court personnel.
Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, said there was no timeframe for
action by the co-investigating judges on Smith's submission, made Monday.
The tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who
died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a
result of the communist regime's radical policies while in power between
1975-79.
The U.N. administrator for the tribunal issued a blunt reminder Tuesday to
Hun Sen that the panel was independent.
"It is a clearly established international standard that courts do not seek
approval of advice on their work from the executive branch," Knut Rosandhaug
said in a statement.
Critics accuse Hun Sen of trying to limit the tribunal's scope to prevent
his political allies from being indicted. Hun Sen once served as a Khmer
Rouge officer and many of his main allies are also former members of the
group.
The tribunal's long-awaited first trial — of Kaing Guek Eav, the Khmer
Rouge's chief jailer for war crimes and crimes against humanity — opened in
March. A joint trial of the four other defendants is expected within the
next two years.
The Khmer Rouge came to power after a bitter 1970-75 civil war, and after
being ousted from power in 1979, carried out an insurgency from the jungles
until 1999.
Hun Sen has dominated Cambodian politics for more than two decades. He
ousted his former co-prime minister in a 1997 coup and has since ruled
virtually unchallenged.
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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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