24 January 2007
Khmer
Rouge Tribunal—Interview with a Co-Prosecutor
Following stints in
Towards the end of last year, the U.N.-backed effort to open the tribunal ran
into serious difficulties when Cambodian and international jurists failed to
reach agreement on internal procedures.
The two sides are now making a new effort to overcome differences.
Critics argue that Cambodian judges are subject to political interference from
the Cambodian government, making it difficult to hold fair trials.
Unlike the trials dealing with the former
And, as Robert Petit acknowledges, Cambodian law is full of "gaps and
inconsistencies."
'A lot of progress'
Some critics suspect that the Cambodian government has been using its influence
to delay progress toward the opening of the tribunal, partly because of a fear
that the findings could implicate or embarrass members of the government, some
of whom are former Khmer Rouge themselves.
Petit, who is a co-prosecutor working with a Cambodian counterpart, declines to
speculate about Cambodian government motivations or possible delaying tactics.
He argues instead that he and the other jurists involved are making good,
steady progress.
"I don't comment on speculation," said Petit in an interview
with Radio Free Asia. "I don't think that would be wise on my
part."
"We've made a lot of progress, more than other tribunals [at this stage].
We have investigators who have started amassing a fair amount of
information. We've developed cases. And we have a pretty good idea already of
where we're going to go."
"So I think that overall in six months we have a pretty good record,
especially considering the limited resources we have. Compared with any
other tribunal that I know about."
Petit served as a criminal prosecutor in
From 1996-99, he worked as a legal officer in the prosecutor's office of the
International Criminal Tribunal for
Petit sees similarities between the Khmer Rouge case and those of other
war crimes trials. But he also sees significant differences.
As for similarities, he says, "It's always about victims, isn't it? And
trying to bring justice for somebody whose rights and integrity have been
violated. To a certain extent, it's always the same."
But then he finds huge differences in
To begin with, much time has passed. The Khmer Rouge began their full-scale
reign of terror more than 30 years ago, in April 1975.
Many Cambodians have been reluctant to talk about what happened and their
government has not encouraged discussion. School textbooks barely touch on the
subject.
Many are still confused as to why the Khmer Rouge killed so many innocent
people. By some estimates up to two million people died from executions,
starvation, and overwork.
"Obviously the passage of time is a big factor," says Petit.
"There is a lack of understanding about what happened.
"In
"There's a knowledge gap that did not exist in some other cases. It's not
either harder or easier to deal with—just different."
Since last July, Petit has been working on a regular basis with a Cambodian
counterpart, East-German trained co-prosecutor Chea Leang.
"We're working very well together," says Petit.
In a brief interview, Chea Leang agreed. "We have strong cooperation and
good relations and good planning to achieve the purpose of our mission,"
she said.
Does she believe that trials will begin this year?
"Now we are working on internal rules," she says. "If we agree
on those, we expect a trial to take place in 2007."
Asked if he expects to see trials this year, Petit says: "Yes. I would
hope so... And I'd be very surprised if we didn't have trials. I'd be very
disappointed. There must be. There's no way around it. There must be."
Copyright 2007
Radio Free