by Patrick Falby Patrick Falby Fri Oct 9, 11:57 am ET
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – The lawyer for a former Khmer Rouge leader on Friday
filed a demand that the French investigating judge be disqualified from
Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court for alleged bias.
Michael Karnavas, attorney for ex-Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary,
said the motion was based on allegations that Marcel Lemonde told
subordinates to favour evidence showing suspects' guilt over evidence of
their innocence.
The tribunal was set up to bring to justice the leaders of the genocidal
late 1970s Khmer Rouge regime.
Karnavas said Lemonde was "giving instructions to his investigators to game
the process. In other words, to look primarily for evidence that supports
the prosecution".
The lawyer said he submitted his complaint based on a statement made by the
former head of Lemonde's intelligence and analysis team, Wayne Bastin, at an
Australian police station on Thursday.
A copy of the statement obtained by AFP said Lemonde shocked subordinates in
a meeting at his Phnom Penh home in August when he told them, "I would
prefer that we find more inculpatory evidence than exculpatory evidence".
Under the Khmer Rouge court's regulations, investigating judges are required
to be impartial while researching allegations made by prosecutors. Defence
teams are not permitted to make their own investigations.
"How is it that (Lemonde) can remain in the position in light of what we
know now?" Karnavas said, adding that such behaviour was "outrageous".
Speaking on Lemonde's behalf, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said he had no
comment on the issue.
Lemonde is currently investigating the court's second case, against Ieng
Sary and his wife, former minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith, as well
as Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea and ex-head of state Khieu Samphan.
Heather Ryan, who monitors the court for the Open Society Justice
Initiative, told AFP that the defence would probably need to demonstrate
systemic bias for Lemonde to lose his job.
"An off the cuff remark made in private -- like what was quoted -- may not
be significant," Ryan said.
Under the court's internal rules, Lemonde's previous work on investigations
remains valid even if he is disqualified from the tribunal.
Lemonde also met controversy earlier this week when it was revealed he
summoned six top government and legislative officials to testify against
Khmer Rouge leaders, a move opposed by Prime Minister Hun Sen's
administration.
Final arguments in the court's first trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav,
known by the alias Duch, are scheduled for late next month.
But the tribunal, created in 2006 after several years of haggling between
Cambodia and the UN, has faced accusations of political interference and
allegations that local staff were forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities
in a bid to forge a communist utopia between 1975-79, resulting in the
deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.
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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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