November 3, 2010
By Joel Brinkley
GlobalPost
PALO ALTO — Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister, told the United Nations Secretary General while he was visiting Phnom Penh the other day that he would not allow any more Khmer Rouge war-crimes trials after the second one that’s now underway.
“The prime minister clearly affirmed that case three is not allowed,” his foreign minister reported.
What’s so strange about that? All of the remaining defendants, four surviving leaders of the genocidal regime, are on trial right now. One of the most notorious Khmer Rouge jailers has already been convicted and was sent to prison in July.
Well, Hun Sen’s declaration to Ban Ki-moon runs afoul of two serious problems. First, the Khmer Rouge trial, administered by a joint U.N.-Cambodian court, is supposed to be completely independent of government or U.N. interference.
As Ban put it, Hun Sen needs to “provide full cooperation and fully respect the independence of the court.”
But then this is Cambodia, and Hun Sen is essentially an elected dictator who wields full control of everything that happens in his country--except the Khmer Rouge trial. He has been interfering in the court since the day it opened its doors. In fact, it’s a miracle that the court has managed to carry out a trial and issue a conviction, given Hun Sen’s public animus toward the proceedings.
Please click here to read more...
“The prime minister clearly affirmed that case three is not allowed,” his foreign minister reported.
What’s so strange about that? All of the remaining defendants, four surviving leaders of the genocidal regime, are on trial right now. One of the most notorious Khmer Rouge jailers has already been convicted and was sent to prison in July.
Well, Hun Sen’s declaration to Ban Ki-moon runs afoul of two serious problems. First, the Khmer Rouge trial, administered by a joint U.N.-Cambodian court, is supposed to be completely independent of government or U.N. interference.
As Ban put it, Hun Sen needs to “provide full cooperation and fully respect the independence of the court.”
But then this is Cambodia, and Hun Sen is essentially an elected dictator who wields full control of everything that happens in his country--except the Khmer Rouge trial. He has been interfering in the court since the day it opened its doors. In fact, it’s a miracle that the court has managed to carry out a trial and issue a conviction, given Hun Sen’s public animus toward the proceedings.
No comments:
Post a Comment