Cambodian expert says on war crime
Constanze Oehlrich
Legal Adviser to Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Constanze Oehlrich yesterday said assistance from international communities for evidence and investigation is necessary to ensure legitimate and transparent trial of war crimes.
It is very difficult to investigate such a large-scale crime and Cambodia needs to have additional capacity and support to make the trial legitimate and transparent, she said describing the Cambodian model.
“There is international experience in trying war criminals across the globe. In dealing with such a huge issue you need to be very pragmatic; you need to coordinate and organise the evidence,” said Constanze Oehlrich.
Oehlrich, who is visiting Bangladesh currently to attend the “2nd international conference on genocide, truth and justice,” expressed the view while explaining several features of Cambodian model for trial of war criminals with The Daily Star.
EU Parliament Member Helmut Scholz on Thursday said, “A legal analysis similar to the Cambodian model combined with international support is highly recommended for Bangladesh.”
Explaining the Cambodian model of court she said the Cambodian trial was backed by the United Nations. She mentioned that the Cambodian court was a mixed court involving judges from both national and international communities.
She mentioned that there was both national and international funding in Cambodian court.
“We have two prosecutors -- one is national and the other is international. We have both national judges and international judges. In case of taking decision both the national and international judges have to take decision unanimously,” she said.
She said that the trial of war criminals in Cambodia is divided into three parts---pre-trial, trial and Supreme Court chamber -- and majority of the judges are national.
There are, however, international judges in each step of the courts, she said.
“Decision in every step must be taken after getting super votes---like four votes out of five,” she added.
For example, if a decision is to be taken by the pre-trial court, which is consisted of five judges -- three Cambodian and two international judges, four judges must approve the decision.
She cited an example saying that Cambodian president at one stage ordered not to expand trial and limit it within the five accused. Later an international judge felt the necessity of conducting investigation against six more and then the matter was forwarded to pre-trial court for hearing.
She said it is tough to arrange a trial after 38 years of the incident. Newspaper reports can be used as written evidence and there are accounts of witnesses too.
Sharing her experience of work in the trial of war criminals in Cambodia Constanze said that there is a documentation centre in Cambodia, which has been collecting information soon after the killings in Cambodia.
She explained that the centre even visited countryside taking interviews and accounts of witnesses.
She and Nafia Tasmin Din, Victim's Unit, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, said that there are individual groups in Bangladesh who collected information after the Liberation War and that can be used during trial as evidence.
The genocide tribunal in Cambodia backed by UN began holding its first historic trial on November 20, 2007, 30 years into the killing of 1.7 million people, nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population.
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