Nuon Chea (Centre), aka Brother No 2, sits in the courtroom at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal today.
The 84-year-old former cadre and his lawyers complained that the court’s Trial Chamber had declined to accept their list of proposed witnesses, and that the judicial investigation in the case had been biased against him.
“My fellow Cambodian citizens, inside and outside Cambodia, I am not happy with this hearing and I would like to allow my co-counsels to actually explain the reasons behind this,” Nuon Chea said. He donned his trademark dark sunglasses during the hearing to block out the glare of the lights in the courtroom, and wore a woolen ski cap because, his lawyer explained, he was “affected by the circulation of the air conditioning without wearing it”.
Taking over for Nuon Chea, Dutch defence lawyer Michiel Pestman said the Case 002 investigation had been “unfair” and called for the proceedings to be “terminated”.
“The sole purpose of the judicial investigation was to collect evidence against our client, and to ignore all the evidence that could put his role in the Khmer Rouge years in a different, more positive light,” Pestman said.
Pestman referenced the controversy over the court’s third and fourth cases, in which the investigating judges have apparently sabotaged the investigations amid opposition to the cases by the Cambodian government. The government, he said, has “failed to cooperate” with the court, noting that a number of high-level members of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have ignored summonses to provide evidence in Case 002.
“Our client does not want to longer honor these proceedings with his presence unless his objections and all of his witnesses… are put on the agenda, as the rules of this court prescribe,” Pestman said.
Nuon Chea subsequently exited the courtroom, followed shortly thereafter by former Khmer Rouge social action minister Ieng Thirith, who complained of ill health and at one point appeared to have fallen asleep.
The hearings this week, slated to run until Thursday, will focus on procedural issues including witness lists and the statutes of limitations for the crimes alleged in the case. The so-called “substantive hearings”, featuring evidence and witness testimony, will not begin until August or September.
Nuon Chea and Ieng Thirith, along with former KR foreign minister Ieng Sary and head of state Khieu Samphan, stand accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in a trial that has widely been described as the most important case the tribunal will prosecute. according to ppp, June 27, 2011
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