Wednesday, 13 June 2012
By Bridget Di Certo
Phnom Penh Post
Prime Minister Hun Sen must be publicly and robustly sanctioned for his remarks about the guilt of Brother No 2 Nuon Chea, who is now being tried at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, lawyers for the elderly accused have told the court.
In
an immediate appeal filed on Monday to the highest judicial body of the
tribunal, the international lawyers for Nuon Chea requested the Supreme
Court Chamber overturn the ruling of the Trial Chamber.
In May,
the Trial Chamber rejected an application by the Nuon Chea team for
summary action against Hun Sen, who was reported by Vietnamese press as
referring to Nuon Chea a “killer” and perpetrator of genocide.
“The court can do whatever it wants, but I had the right to condemn Khmer Rouge leaders,” Hun Sen reportedly said at the time.
While
they rejected the application, the Trial Chamber judges did recognise
that Hun Sen’s remarks were “incompatible with the presumption of
innocence to which Nuon Chea is entitled”.
Although the Trial
Chamber judges concluded that Hun Sen’s words risked being interpreted
as an attempt to improperly influence the judges, the defence still
protested, taking the position that a “bland and toothless”
recommendation against further comments was insufficient.
“The
extremely limited action taken by the bench amounts to neither a
practical nor an effective solution to the problem of executive
violations of fundamental human-rights guarantees in Cambodia,” the
defence wrote in their appeal.
“Indeed, one rightly wonders if
Hun Sen was even informed of the Trial Chamber’s hypothetical censure.
If so, one can be quite certain that he has lost no sleep over it,” the
appeal continues.
The Post has previously reported that Nuon
Chea’s defence team has filed multiple motions at the tribunal and in
local Cambodian courts seeking a remedy to alleged political
interference in Case 002 by high-ranking government officials.
As yet, these motions have been unsuccessful.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
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