German judge at Khmer Rouge court quits post

Oct 10, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh – The German investigating judge at the centre of a number of controversial rulings at the United Nations-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal has quit his post, the court said Monday.

Siegfried Blunk, who took up his role in December, said in a statement that he had resigned after comments by senior government officials that ‘will be perceived as attempted interference.’

On October 4 Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Hor Namhong reportedly said the decision on whether to arrest more suspected former members of the Khmer Rouge ‘is a Cambodian issue (and) must be decided by Cambodia.’

Last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he would not permit any trials other than the first two cases, which involve the four surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement and the movement’s former head of security.

And in May the information minister said foreign nationals looking to investigate Cases 003 and 004 – as the court’s final two cases against five mid-level Khmer Rouge are known – should ‘pack their bags and leave.’

Blunk said he would not be influenced by such statements, but that his ability to withstand such government pressure ‘could always be called into doubt, and this would also call in doubt the integrity of the whole proceedings in Cases 003 and 004.’

The role of the two investigating judges is to examine the charges levied against suspects. However there are widespread fears inside and outside the court that they had buckled to political pressure and were moving to scupper Cases 003 and 004.

Last week, the US-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Blunk and his Cambodian counterpart You Bunleng to quit, saying the two had ‘egregiously violated their legal and judicial duties.’

In April, the judges’ decision to close Case 003 without interviewing the two suspects or inspecting alleged crime sites drew widespread criticism. The international prosecutor Andrew Cayley appealed that closure citing a litany of judicial failures.

HRW said Case 004, involving three mid-ranking Khmer Rouge members thought responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, also looked likely to be shelved without serious investigation.

In the tribunal’s first case, the Khmer Rouge’s head of security, Comrade Duch, was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the deaths of more than 12,000 people. He has appealed his 30-year sentence.

Case 002, which is against the four senior surviving leaders of the movement, will likely begin in 2012. More than 2 million people are thought to have died during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-79 rule.