By Kimberly Curtis
Originally posted at http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com
Things have been difficult for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), pretty much from the start. The one thing the UN-backed court charged with holding the leadership of the Khmer Rouge responsible for their crimes had going for it was that its first defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his nom de guerre Duch, admitted his guilt. His trial was therefore supposed to offer the chance for a traumatized nation to hear the truth about what happened under the Khmer Rouge, rather than decide on the merits his guilt or innocence. This is the process that Cambodia has gone through for months as testimony was heard and Duch admitted his responsibility in running one of the most notorious prisons under the Khmer Rouge. That is until Friday, when Duch did an about face and demanded his release due to his innocence of all charges.
To make things even more complicated, his international and local trial teams then offered up two different, and quite contradictory, defenses. His international lawyers asked the court to consider his remorse and limit the possible 40 year prison sentence, while his local lawyers claimed that the court was not competent to hold the trial at all. If nothing else, that’s a pretty big difference of opinion.
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