11 November 2010
By Thijs Bouwknegt
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal should press on with new cases against former Khmer Rouge leaders or risk a "legacy of impunity," says a trial-monitoring group.
"High-level war crimes cases should be tried by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), rather than transferred to local courts." The report by the US based Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), released on Wednesday, says that ordinary Cambodian courts cannot guarantee international fair trial standards, given intense political interference of Cambodian leaders.
"If any of these cases are dismissed, transferred, or otherwise handled in a manner that does not evince independent decision making consistent with international standards, the court will be left with a legacy of impunity rather than justice in spite of its accomplishments in other cases," the report reads.
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