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| Nuon Chea’s defense lawyers: Michiel Pestmand and Andrew Ianuzzi (Photo: RFI) |
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post
Lawyers for Brother No 2 Nuon Chea have lodged an application with the Khmer Rouge tribunal Trial Chamber, asking it to take immediate action against Prime Minister Hun Sen to prevent him causing “further damage” to Case 002.
The “Application for Summary Action against Hun Sen” was filed yesterday in response to Vietnamese media reports that the premier had referred to Nuon Chea as “deceitful” and a “perpetrator of genocide”.
“In order to prevent further damage [to Case 002] . . . a public condemnation of Hun Sen’s remarks and a public warning that further comments will be met by even more stringent action” is needed, the application says.
“Unless such action is taken by this Chamber, the Prime Minister will have, once again, exposed the ECCC as the cowed institution that it is.”
Defence counsel Michiel Pestman told the Post it was presumed that any comments made by the premier amounted to political pressure for Cambodian judges because of his power hold on the Kingdom.
“The international judges of the Trial Chamber have so far completely failed to take any principled decisions – there have been no dissents in the Trial Chamber, and they are avoiding their responsibility to this case,” Pestman said.
“We want to say that things are changing; we are not going to be bullied into submission,” he added.
Nuon Chea’s defence team has filed multiple motions at the tribunal and in local Cambodian courts seeking a remedy to alleged political interference in Case 002 by high-ranking government officials.
As yet, these motions have been unsuccessful.
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