Commemoration of Easter Sunday 1997 Grenade Attack, followed by People's Congress

Seen and heard on Ms. Theary C. Seng's Facebook accounts: 
www.facebook.com/theary.c.seng

www.facebook.com/theary.seng.7 

Theary C. Seng (Photo: Robert Carmichael)

Commemoration of Easter Sunday
1997 Grenade Attack, 
followed by People's Congress 
at Park across from Old National Assembly Building
(Sothearos Blvd. and Street 240)

I will join both events TOMORROW, Sunday, March 30 MORNING: first, the Commemoration of Easter Sunday Grenade Attack, 1997; followed by People's Congress -- both at SAME LOCATION, at park across from old National Assembly.

Please help us to monitor the tense situation, as Hun Sen has threatened the assembly with violent force. But it is critical this time that we do not appease and that we face the forces straight on.

It is true that Hun Sen cannot be tried retroactively for the crimes of 30 March 1997 at the International Criminal Court. But that is not to say that these murders could not be referenced and used to contextualize current pending complaints and (to be sure) future cases--especially if forces use violence against peaceful citizens tomorrow--in painting what kind of leader is Hun Sen and what kind of regime is the CPP.  

Over the years, I've written and posted many articles on the International Criminal Court: first, to advocate for its establishment during my last year of law school in 1999; second, to inform the Cambodian public of its provisions; third, to warn the potential CPP perpetrators; and since, to remind of the relevant provisions vis-a-vis Cambodia and the nature of "building a case", that is the accumulation of evidence over time, either as direct evidence (if within the temporal jurisdiction) or evidence to buttress the core complaint (if before the ICC came to be, e.g. March 1997 grenade attack).

Let me note that complaints will be accepted on the merits, but there exist also political and arbitrary considerations to the merits: how the ICC has been Africa-centric and looks for cases in other regions of the world; how it depends on the passion and interests of the particular prosecutor; how it depends on the momentum of various movements and advocacy toward the case or if a lesson of deterrence can be drawn from it, etc.

On another note, Hun Sen's attempt to spin and place potential violence on the CNRP leadership is pathetic; it may work in his kangaroo court, but laughable anywhere else, particularly at the ICC.  Hun Sen has a long, documented history of mass violence; Sam Rainsy a long history of peace and publicly advocating for peace, notably most recently with all the trainings on peaceful movements from around the world, especially Martin Luther King's civil rights and Gandhi's satyagraha movements.

In my study and research of the ICC, and international criminal justice generally, over the years, I'm struck by how regularly the perpetrators who found themselves within the ICC dock (or those of other international courts) are surprised to be found there.  Each person felt so invincible at the moment of violence, thinking they are shielded from justice.

Such short term thinking must be from their immediate surrounding of experiencing impunity for so long and thinking that "power" is on their side eternally.  A part of it is the person's lack of understanding of the rapid development of international law, and the other part is emblematic of human nature, of giving more credence to the immediacy of the situation and thinking themselves invincible in their present power.

But the long arm of justice continues to grow and to be less predictable, e.g. Pinochet, Kissinger, Kenyatta.

Let Hun Sen and the CPP build the case and strengthen existing complaints filed against them at the ICC in their future use of violence against citizens peacefully assembling and quicken their own political death knell. 

- Theary C. Seng, 29 March 2014