The
security guard handed me back my purse, and the next guard ushered me
into the auditorium. I was handed a pair of headphones and a handset with which
to listen to the simultaneous translation. My eyes swept over the room, from the
hundreds of empty seats to the glass wall separating us from the
courtroom. As I took a seat in the middle of the room, my companions
from Youth for Peace (YFP) and Peace Institute of Cambodia (PIC)
joined me, with their own headsets. I studied the courtroom before
us, it almost felt like stage. On the opposite wall there were the emblems of
the United Nations and the Kingdom of Cambodia, framing the official
emblem for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(ECCC). In front of that, facing us, were two rows of seats with computer screens. Facing these, close to the glass wall, were two tables, an
elderly man was seated at the one on the left, while the one to the
right was empty. There were rows of seats to the left and right,
facing towards the center, filled with men and women in suits and
robes, some black, some purple. Seated against the wall on the left
was a group of men and women, the women in this group all wore
hijabs. After a few minutes, everyone in the court room rose, as did
everyone in the auditorium with me, while the judges entered the room
and took their seats. The head judge reminded us why we were there:
to hear a witness for the prosecution for the allegations of genocide
against the Muslim Cham people during the Khmer Rouge Regime against
Noun Chea and Khieu Samphan.
 |
| Stupa at the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek. |
While
the Khmer Rouge Regime, officially known as the Democratic Kampuchea, officially held power from April 17th, 1975 to January 7th, 1979,
political and military turmoil in Cambodia has prevented those
responsible for the atrocities committed by the regime to be brought
to justice. The ECCC was launched as a hybrid national and
international tribunal in 2006, after almost ten years of planning
and negotiations between the Cambodian government and the United
Nations. The courts were established to try "the senior leaders
of the Democratic Kampuchea... who are alleged to have planned crimes
or given orders to commit crimes, as well as those alleged to be most
responsible for committing serious crimes.” 36 years have passed since the Khmer Rouge was toppled, and
many of the former leaders are elderly or have died, thus it was decided
that only people who are still alive can be tried; there will be no
posthumous trails. This means that even though Pol Pot was the Prime Minister
of the Democratic Kampuchea, since he died in 1998, he can not be
tried by this court.
The
court is unique. It is a hybrid international and national court
functioning under a civil law system. This means that the lawyers,
judges, and staff are a mix of Cambodians and internationals, and
that proceedings are conducted in Khmer, French, and English with use
of simultaneous translation. Because the crimes the defendants are
being tried for were committed in the 1970s, the court also
interprets both Cambodian and International law as it existed during
that period.
The
ECCC has handled four cases, against eight named accused, and has
completed one case. Case 001 tried Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, the
former Chairman of Phnom Penh's security prison, which is now the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Duch was convicted of crimes against
humanity and grave breeches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and
sentenced to life in prison in 2012.
Case
002 was originally accused four Khmer Rouge leaders of “crimes
against against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of
1949, and genocide against the Muslim Cham and Vietnamese”:
Noun Chea, former Chairman of the Democratic Kampuchea National
Assembly and Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea,
Khieu Samphan, former Head of State of Democratic Kampuchea, Ieng
Sary, former Deputy Prime Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea, and Ieng Thirith, former
Minister of Social Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea. However, the
proceedings against Ieng Sary were terminated in 2013 after his death
in March, and Ieng Thirith was found unfit to stand trial due to
dementia in 2011. Ieng Thirith died this past August. Because of the
breadth of this case, it was split into two trails, Case 002/01 and
Case 002/2.
 |
| Prison cells at Tuol Sleng. |
Case
002/01, against Noun Chea and Khieu Samphan, “primarily focus on
the forced movement of the population of Phnom Penh and later from
other regions…, and related crimes against humanity as well as the
alleged execution of at least 250 former Khmer Republic soldiers.”
The accused were found guilty
of crimes against humanity and were sentenced to life in prison. Both
accused have filed appeals, the decision for the appeals is expected
in 2016.
The
proceedings I witnessed were part of Case 002/02 against Noun Chea
and Khieu Samphan. They are currently standing trial for “allegations
of genocide against the Muslim Cham and the Vietnamese, grave
breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, forced marriages and rape,
purges, persecution of Buddhist, as well as other crimes against
humanity.”
The testimony I watched was of one of the few survivors of the
massacre of the Muslim Cham people. The witness, an elderly gentleman, told the court how the Khmer Rouge soldiers had come into his
village, and the subsequent actions they took against the Cham. He
told about how they declared that the Cham ethnicity was no more,
that they were all Khmer. They banned Muslims from practicing their
faith, banned prayers and head coverings, and even forced them to eat
pork which is a sin in Islam. He also told the court about how the
Cham people were later gathered at the local Watt and massacred. He
and his wife hid in the bushes while they listened the screams and
cries to Allah of his friends, neighbors, and family as they were
murdered by the Khmer Rouge soldiers. He and his wife hid in a near
by lake for almost four months. They were later saved from being
killed, along with a group of Khmer, by the Vietnamese.
The
witness, who is also a civil party in this case, was questioned by
civil parties lawyers and lawyers for the prosecution during this
session. While this trial began in October 2014 there is still no
clear end date.
 |
| Mass burial pits at the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek. |
The
court is still in the investigative process of Cases 003 and 004. In
March 2015, Meas Muth, former head of the Navy of Democratic
Kampuchea, was charged in Case 003 with “allegations of homicide as
a violation of the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code, multiple categories of
crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions
of 1949.”
Im Chaem was charged in Case 004 “with allegations of homicide and
multiple categories of crimes against humanity.”
Ao An is also charged in Case 004, with “premeditated homicide as a
violation of the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code and multiple categories of
crimes against humanity.”
Another suspect is currently under investigation, but their name
remains confidential and they have yet to be charged. The
investigations of these cases are currently only being conducted by
the international court as the Cambodian government is officially
against the investigation.
As
I watched and listened to the court proceedings, the
witness described the conditions he and his wife had
lived in, in order to survive. The amount of translation needed
slowed and complicated the overall
process.
On several occasions the witness did not seem to understand the
question and proceeded to go on tangents, which were interesting and
created an in depth picture of what happened, but often didn't answer
the presented question from the lawyers. After the trail concluded
for the day, with plans for a week of recess, the group I was with
from YFP and PIC was taken to talk to some of Public Affairs interns
about the court system and process, and even discussed the process
with one of the prosecution lawyers, a gentleman from the US.
Visiting
the ECCC was a reminder of the complexities of living and working in
a post conflict, post genocide, society. I will be interested to see
in the years and decades to come, how stories of victims and
survivors are presented, along side the stories of those charged and
convicted by the court as perpetrators.
