Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

"..three months after he was cleared of crimes against humanity"

Another falsehood ^^^ perp'ed by the guilty, endorsed by the Gov and endlessly repeated by the unquestioning media.
1 min fact-checking, or anyone that has a clue about the KRT, would show up the lie.
(we even have it retweeted on CEO)

Contrary to some media reports, the Pre-Trial Chamber’s Considerations do not acquit Ao An or conclude the case,” said international co-prosecutor Brenda J. Hollis.

But don't get too upset with the Cambodian press - many the 19 year old foreign cadets that did most of the everyday reporting for the english language press were equally as inept when the trials were in progress.
eg, the oft repeated "19 year" sentence for Duch. BS.

Mostly self-righteous, serious-minded, naive young fools on their first ever passport who thought their nationality gave them the licence to preach overseas.
None of them, incidentally, spent any time in the courtroom to pick up all the nuance that was revealed on the larger stage. They sat in the press room and watched the primary action broadcast on TV screens. A very sad omission.
(NB, there was also some excellent reporting, but usually by the experienced "old SEA hands" who wrote sporadically, not as a part of day to day coverage)

Fact ^^ The national (Cambodian) judges refused to take the case - because the Gov does not want any more trials.
He was not cleared of anything. The investigators recommended him for prosecution and the international judges agreed.

Don't get too upset with that either, USA refused agreement to sanction the Tribunal, and twisted every arm in the UN it could, if it included crimes committed prior 1975 - because their illegal and unconscionable bombing would have come under the spotlight.

Anyway, too late now. Ao An is probably burning in Hell as we speak.

Genocide against the Cham people in Kampong Cham province, crimes against humanity, and violations of the 1956 Penal Code, namely premeditated homicide.

An was believed to be the secretary of Sector 41, also known as the Khmer Rouge’s Central Zone. He was also suspected of being a member of the Central Zone Committee and the deputy-secretary of the Central Zone from late 1977 to January 1979.
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

Ao An was directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people at multiple sites over an extended period.

Genocide of the Cham and Crimes against Humanity, including murder, persecution, extermination, enslavement, imprisonment, torture, forced marriage, rape and forced labor.
The full KR resumee writ large.

If you can stomach the history lesson, this doc catalogues hundred of pages of crimes.
Start at approx paragraph 270 (1/4 way into the doc).

'Facinating stuff., eg
On another occasion member of Ao An’s personal defence unit named Run escorted two prisoners from the Sector Office to Wat Ta Meak Security Centre and upon arriving Run killed them by slashing their throats and then disembowelled them removing their livers

read on...
https://eccc.gov.kh/sites/default/files ... ted_EN.pdf
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

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Khmer Rouge tribunal issues split decision in appeal against ex-navy commander indictments
Alexandra Briscoe | Victoria U. Wellington Faculty of Law, NZ
April 12, 2021 09:11:13 am

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has delivered a split decision in the appeal against co-investigating judges’ conflicting closing orders in the case of former Khmer Rouge navy commander Meas Muth.

Muth, who was charged by the ECCC in absentia on March 3, 2015, is believed to have committed various crimes while acting as commander of naval division 164 during the Khmer Rouge regime, which controlled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 in an era marked by bloodshed. Among these are allegations of genocide, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and crimes against humanity such as murder, extermination, imprisonment, enslavement, torture and persecution on racial and political grounds.

On November 28, 2018, the co-investigating judges assigned to Muth’s case delivered conflicting closing orders on these charges. While international co-investigating judge Michael Bohlander issued an indictment sending Muth to trial, the national co-investigating judge issued an order dismissing the case. The national and international co-prosecutors and the co-lawyers for Muth each lodged separate appeals.

In last Wednesday’s decision, the Pre-Trial Chamber confirmed that the appeals of the national and international co-prosecutors were admissible, but dismissed Muth’s co-lawyers’ appeal as inadmissible. As a preliminary point, the judges unanimously decided that the co-investigating judges’ simultaneous issuance of conflicting closing orders was illegal and in violation of the ECCC’s legal framework.
Full article: https://www.jurist.org/news/2021/04/khm ... dictments/
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

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VICE Asia Tampers with Khmer Rouge Tribunal Evidence
An insulting end to a messy week for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
By Luke Hunt
April 12, 2021
The infamous photographs of people, numbered and prepared for extermination by the Khmer Rouge at the S-21 death camp, in much the same way as the Nazis processed the Jews, are revered and commemorated as a monument to the two million people who perished under Pol Pot.

Importantly, those photographs – black and white, one face after another – still constitute evidence before the United Nations-backed court responsible for trying surviving Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity committed here between 1975 and 1979.

And they remain on semi-permanent display at the former high school where S-21 was once housed.

What survived the ultra-Maoists, along with the bones of the dead, remain an intrinsic part of this country’s history and their final resting place will be handled once the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has done its work.
They also command almost universal respect but there’s always an exception, including the quasi-news outlet VICE Asia.
Full article: https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/vice-as ... -evidence/

See more on the tampered photos: newsworthy/these-people-were-arrested-t ... 44331.html
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:48 pm Khmer Rouge tribunal issues split decision in appeal against ex-navy commander indictments ^^
The Pre-Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has delivered a split decision in the appeal against co-investigating judges’ conflicting closing orders in the case of former Khmer Rouge navy commander Meas Muth.

Muth, who was charged by the ECCC in absentia on March 3, 2015, is believed to have committed various crimes while acting as commander of naval division 164 during the Khmer Rouge regime, which controlled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 in an era marked by bloodshed. Among these are allegations of genocide, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and crimes against humanity such as murder, extermination, imprisonment, enslavement, torture and persecution on racial and political grounds.

*** the national co-investigating judge issued an order dismissing the case.
*** As have the national (cambodian) judges from every chamber on every occasion.
and that is all that really matters
Meas Muth will not be be going to trial, full stop. ( but this has been known by realists for years)

Which is a pity. He was the one ultimately responsible for all of the western yachtsmen's capture, arrest, murder at sea of at least one, and the sending to Toul Sleng of the others.
And for a few thousand Vietnamese and Thai fishermen's murder.
That was all going to be a big part of the indictment.
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

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After 15 Years, Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge Tribunal Nears Its End
A conversation with Helen Jarvis, a genocide scholar and tribunal stalwart.
Luke Hunt
August 06, 2021

The Khmer Rouge tribunal is expected to hold its last public hearings starting from August 16, when the former head of state, Khieu Samphan – the last of Pol Pot’s living henchmen – is slated to appear and deliver an oral defense of the crimes committed between 1975 and 1979.

A bench of Cambodian and international judges will then deliberate on the 90-year-old’s appeal against his convictions for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Nine days have been reserved for the hearings, following which the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) will start finalizing more than 15 years of legal work.

The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt spoke with Helen Jarvis at her home on the banks of the Mekong River, north of Phnom Penh, about the “Herculean” efforts required to establish the tribunal, its successes, and other issues.

Jarvis served as chief of the Public Affairs Section from the ECCC’s inception until June 2009 and then as head of the Victims Support Section until her retirement a year later.

She has since worked as a genocide scholar and says the U.N.-backed court has achieved its aim of putting senior Khmer Rouge leaders on trial for the deaths of up to 2.3 million people and in putting their crimes on the international record to be recognized by future generations.

The ECCC has also secured convictions against the former commandant of the S21 torture and extermination center Kaing Guek Eav – commonly known as Duch – and former “brother number two” Nuon Chea. Both died behind bars.

Others, including Pol Pot’s former foreign minister Ieng Sary, Sary’s wife Ieng Thirith, and the former military chief Ta Mok, died before justice could be rendered.

Outstanding cases are also expected to be dealt with, including former commanders Meas Muth and Yim Tith, which remain in a legal limbo with Cambodian and international prosecutors divided over whether to proceed.

Jarvis was recently the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Genocide Scholars, for her “deep commitment and myriad intellectual and political accomplishments, including a principal role in the formation of the ECCC.”
She also co-authored the book “Getting Away with Genocide,” written with journalist Tom Fawthrop.
https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/after-1 ... s-its-end/
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

Three cheers for the hugely talented and highly productive HE Ms Helen Jarvis! ^^^
Historian, huge Khmer culture supporter, friend of the proletariat, overgenerous boss, dedicated organic gardener, wildlife supporter (in real terms), the most generous host in the world. A true Renaissance woman.
One of the handful of really committed individuals, Cambodians and foreigners, who is most responsible for the KR Tribunal getting off the ground, against all odds.

Politics aside,(!!) one of the most remarkably tuned in people i have ever met.
Some people get put off by her imperiousness - she is pretty formidable - but along with her rapier sharp mind, she has an elephant sized pure gold heart.

Her "Getting Away With Genocide" is the definitive history of the long saga of getting at least some justice for the KR leadership's crimes.
This is a fascinating interview if you are into exploring the weighty issues the KRTribunal has presented. I might give it another run before i comment on her conclusions.

NB, When trial issues get close to politically sensitivities, she usually presents a view that happens to align with that of the government - then usually goes on to give very valid reasons why that view is in fact the most appropriate.
So much of western commentary about the governments pragmatic policies around these trials is unnecessarily, and wrongly imo, cynical.

With Alex Hinton, historian, genocide scholar, fellow KRT instigator >>
Image

With victims - the bloke on the right is one of the Toul Sleng survivors that she ended up becoming very close to (after some intial hiccups), the other was a exiled victim from France. >>
Image

Breakfast time with her fab family in the best house in Cambodia
Her rich and powerful Khmer friends come over and say - "WOW!!.... I want to live in an incredible, fully traditional, Cambodian timber house just like this one that you built"
- Well why are you are living in that ugly brick and concrete faux mansion in Toul Kork, you Dickhead.
She has a very practical mind. (and fearless) >>
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

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It ain't over till it's over.

Outstanding cases are also expected to be dealt with, including former commanders Meas Muth and Yim Tith, which remain in a legal limbo with Cambodian and international prosecutors divided over whether to proceed.
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

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08/12/2021, 16.12
CAMBODIA
Appeal process for Khieu Samphan, the last surviving Khmer Rouge leader
Image
Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Cambodia’s last surviving Khmer Rouge leader will know his fate once his appeal against his life sentence is heard starting next Monday.

In his initial trial, the Cambodia Tribunal found Khieu Samphan guilty of genocide. As head of state, the 90-year-old played a crucial role in the death of some two million Cambodians by the Communist regime of Pol Pot (known as Brother Number One) between 1975 and 1979 as a result of starvation, forced labour and mass executions.

In 2018, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a mixed Cambodian and international tribunal commonly known as the Cambodia Tribunal or the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, convicted Samphan in connection with the massacre of Vietnamese-Cambodians and other crimes such as rape and forced marriages, along with Nuon Chea (Brother Number Two).
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Appeal-p ... 53833.html
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Re: Life Sentences Upheld Against Khmer Rouge Leaders (Tribunal Updates)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Lawyer Asks ECCC to Annul its Verdict to Sentence Khieu Samphan to Life imprisonment
AKP Phnom Penh, August 18, 2021 --
A group of lawyers of Mr. Khieu Samphan, Former Head of State of the Democratic Kampuchea, has asked the Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to annul its verdict declared on Nov. 16, 2018.

The request was made yesterday during the opening of an appeal hearing being held virtually from Aug. 16 to 19.

The lawyer group unveiled its complaint, indicating that the trial court was wrong about procedure and judicial process in the charges against its client.

The verdict was not in accordance with the legal process and should be annulled, continued the lawyer, requesting the court to issue a verdict of innocence on each charge against Mr. Khieu Samphan.

However, the co-prosecutors and civil party lawyer defended the court's decision stating that both the procedure and jurisdiction of the Trial Chamber in case No 002/02, and the verdict announced on Nov.16, 2018 were correct.
- AKP
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