By Bridget Di Certo
Tuesday, 01 May 2012
Phnom Penh Post
Nuon Chea’s defence counsel yesterday attempted to implicate Finance
Minister Keat Chhon and Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong for their
alleged roles during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, but the line of
questioning they took with Pol Pot’s nephew was repeatedly blocked by
the presiding judge.
Michiel Pestman quizzed Saloth Ban (pictured), alias So Hong, who has
been on the stand for six days, about Keat Chhon accompanying then-King
Norodom Sihanouk on an official visit as figurehead of Democratic
Kampuchea to the UN secretary-general in October, 1975.
But
Saloth Ban, who worked under Case 002 co-accused Ieng Sary at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was blocked by trial chamber president Nil
Nonn from answering almost any question concerning Keat Chhon or Hor
Namhong.
“The witness is instructed not to answer this question, it is irrelevant,” was Nil Nonn’s oft-repeated order.
Pestman
persisted with putting questions to the witness, including asking him
whether Hor Namhong was chairman of the Khmer Rouge prison Boeung
Trabek.
“I only knew that he was at Boeung Trabek; he was sent by
Pang to be there,” Saloth Ban said. “I never remember having heard he
became the chairman of a place.”
Pestman then asked Saloth Ban
why Hor Namhong had received preferential treatment by the regime,
including being given a villa near the Independence Monument in the
capital.
He also asked Pol Pot’s nephew whether he was afraid of
these men and whether Prime Minister Hun Sen had instructed the two
ministers to not give testimony to the court.
Court investigators
summonsed Keat Chhon, Hor Namhong and other senior government officials
as witnesses in 2009, but the summonses were not obeyed.
Nil Nonn blocked Saloth Ban from answering this line of questioning.
Pestman
protested that he was using this line of questioning to investigate
political interference in Case 002 and also to challenge the credibility
of the witness.
Counsel for former foreign affairs minister Ieng
Sary and ex-president Khieu Samphan took turns questioning Saloth Ban,
who gave confusing testimony.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
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