Paris Peace Accords 23 Oct. 1991

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Alleged Genocidaire Could See Case Dismissed at Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American human rights activist and lawyer who lost both parents to the Khmer Rouge, said such a decision would be a disappointment.
“And now we are concerned that the Khmer Rouge tribunal will not investigate Ta Tith. This is again a slap in the face of the Khmer Rouge’s victims, but we are no longer surprised the Khmer Rouge tribunal and by its shameful acts and its inability to deliver justice to the victims,” she said.
FILE: Yim Tith (known as Ta Tith), January 22, 2011. (Courtesy of Vanthan Peoudara/Documentation Center of Cambodia)
FILE: Yim Tith (known as Ta Tith), January 22, 2011. (Courtesy of Vanthan Peoudara/Documentation Center of Cambodia)

Alleged Genocidaire Could See Case Dismissed at Khmer Rouge Tribunal

VOA | 3 March 2018

Observers said they do not believe that cases 003 and 004 will go to trial due to the strong opposition from Hun Sen.
Yim Tith, who was charged with crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the mass killings in 1970, may be released as lawyers argue over whether he falls under the court’s jurisdiction.

Tith, who was acting chief of the Khmer Rouge’s Northwest Zone, was charged in 2008. Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, has sought to have the court dissolved and urged the tribunal not to prosecute more perpetrators.


Differences between the Cambodian judges, who argue that Tith was not one of those “most responsible” for the Khmer Rouge regime’s crimes, and international judges who are pushing for his prosecution, have led to a legal stalemate.

Tith was charged for his alleged role in the mass killings of the Khmer Krom, murder, extermination, enslavement, forced deportation, imprisonment, torture, persecution, forced marriage, and other inhumane acts.

The Cambodian judges can significantly slow the process as they hold majorities at each level of the court.

Observers said they do not believe that cases 003 and 004 will go to trial due to the strong opposition from Hun Sen.

Peter Maguire, author of “Facing Death in Cambodia”, said it was likely that Hun Sen would not allow the Tith case to proceed.

“Moreover, irrespective of their malevolent acts, neither man qualifies as ‘a senior leader’,” he said.

“Once again, the UN is trying to expand their mandate to exceed the scope of the original agreement on the Khmer Rouge tribunal. ECCC officials continue to act as if these proceedings are little more than the application of laws to facts and that politics plays no role.

“At this point, after more than a decade of humiliations at the hands of Hun Sen, UN leaders and the new heralds of the human rights industry would be wise to heed the words of American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines’.”

Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American human rights activist and lawyer who lost both parents to the Khmer Rouge, said such a decision would be a disappointment.

“And now we are concerned that the Khmer Rouge tribunal will not investigate Ta Tith. This is again a slap in the face of the Khmer Rouge’s victims, but we are no longer surprised the Khmer Rouge tribunal and by its shameful acts and its inability to deliver justice to the victims,” she said.

Neth Pheaktra, a court spokesman, said the court was apolitical and that judges would make judgments based on the evidence at hand.

Tith’s defense team will now have three months to respond in a final submission before the judges decide whether to move for an indictment.

“The closing order would be an order to finally evaluate if the suspect who was asked to be investigated is under the tribunal’s jurisdiction.”

Long Panhavuth of the Cambodia Justice Initiative, said the recent proceedings of the court had not removed uncertainty for the victims.

“This development does not win the trust of the victims, public and donors,” he said.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American human rights activist and lawyer who lost both parents to the Khmer Rouge, said such a decision would be a disappointment.
    “And now we are concerned that the Khmer Rouge tribunal will not investigate Ta Tith. This is again a slap in the face of the Khmer Rouge’s victims, but we are no longer surprised the Khmer Rouge tribunal and by its shameful acts and its inability to deliver justice to the victims,” she said.
    -------------------
    It's nothing as compared to the lies, infantile blames against the Vietnamese by both Kem Sokha and Scam Rainsy.

    Kem Sokha said there was no S21 killing prison under Khmer Rouge. Vietnamese made it up to legitimize their invasion and occupation of Cambodia. In fact, Khmer Rouges were the nice folks and patriots who resisted Vietnam's expansion and colonization.

    Scam Rainsy said Vietnamese agents pretended to be Khmers then caused the whole Khmer Rouge's genocide.

    --------------------------
    I pray for God to punish the Khmers some more. Every time I read a bad news about Cambodia, I cheer, "God has spoken."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:41 AM

    Seng said that the American bombing in the early 1970s in Cambodia "had the direct consequence of killing half a million people and the indirect consequence of creating the conditions that gave us the Khmer Rouge. Kissinger is legally and morally responsible.”
    -----------------------------
    Wow, half a million deaths from US' bombing in Cambodia? Please, how did she arrive with such figure?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:45 AM

    Ah Drgunzet, Viet/YUON racist troll 6:32 AM, 6:41 AM - You are one Viet/YUON parasitoid among millions other when the late King NORODOM SIHANOUK simply asserted that the "YUON is a crocodile" [we have a clip]. Be gone You Viet/YUON parasitoid-crocodile Drgunzet"! Nobody cares about what you write here on T2P.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:43 AM

      Nasty and rude.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:52 AM

      Nothing at all compared to ah Racist [against the Khmer people] Viet/YUON anonymously known as ah Gunzet all over on the INTERNET; we have proof of it

      GUS, a friend of Squid

      Delete