Khmer Rouge court could expand list of suspects: judge
Saturday, November 17, 2007
WITH four suspects charged and a fifth arrest expected, judge Marcel Lemonde says Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court could widen its net as evidence is gathered against other regime cadres.
"Yes, absolutely," Lemonde, one of two judges tasked with investigating criminal accusations against former Khmer Rouge, told AFP when asked whether the list of suspects could be expanded.
Prosecutors in July filed cases against five people all top leaders in the regime to be investigated by the judges, with trials expected to take place in mid-2008.
While the tribunal restricts the scope of prosecution to "senior leaders" of the Khmer Rouge, the court is in no way limited to those already under investigation.
"If, in the course of investigation, we identify other suspects, we can charge them. The only obligation is that we have to get the advice of the prosecutors beforehand," Lemonde, a French national who is one of 12 foreign jurists in the tribunal, said by telephone from Cambodia. "But we can envisage widening the list. It is possible."
Former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who served as social affairs minister for the Khmer Rouge, became the latest suspects taken into the tribunal's custody when Lemonde and his Cambodian counterpart, judge You Bunleng, issued a formal detention order Wednesday.
The pair had been arrested in their home in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday and charged with crimes against humanity.
Earlier this year regime ideologue Nuon Chea and prison chief Duch were arrested by the court.
A fifth top cadre, former head of state Khieu Samphan, is the last of those currently under investigation to remain free. But his arrest is also expected to happen soon.
All have been widely implicated in crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge, including "murder, extermination, imprisonment, enslavement and forced labour", according to court records.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-79 rule.
The Khmer Rouge also abolished money, religion and schools. Cambodia's genocide court got underway last year following a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the UN. AFP
"Yes, absolutely," Lemonde, one of two judges tasked with investigating criminal accusations against former Khmer Rouge, told AFP when asked whether the list of suspects could be expanded.
Prosecutors in July filed cases against five people all top leaders in the regime to be investigated by the judges, with trials expected to take place in mid-2008.
While the tribunal restricts the scope of prosecution to "senior leaders" of the Khmer Rouge, the court is in no way limited to those already under investigation.
"If, in the course of investigation, we identify other suspects, we can charge them. The only obligation is that we have to get the advice of the prosecutors beforehand," Lemonde, a French national who is one of 12 foreign jurists in the tribunal, said by telephone from Cambodia. "But we can envisage widening the list. It is possible."
Former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who served as social affairs minister for the Khmer Rouge, became the latest suspects taken into the tribunal's custody when Lemonde and his Cambodian counterpart, judge You Bunleng, issued a formal detention order Wednesday.
The pair had been arrested in their home in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday and charged with crimes against humanity.
Earlier this year regime ideologue Nuon Chea and prison chief Duch were arrested by the court.
A fifth top cadre, former head of state Khieu Samphan, is the last of those currently under investigation to remain free. But his arrest is also expected to happen soon.
All have been widely implicated in crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge, including "murder, extermination, imprisonment, enslavement and forced labour", according to court records.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-79 rule.
The Khmer Rouge also abolished money, religion and schools. Cambodia's genocide court got underway last year following a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the UN. AFP
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