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| Theary Seng (pointing at a mass grave, possibly where her mom was killed in 1978) speaking with man who was there at Boeung Rai (the heart of the East Zone) when she was a prisoner there; DC-Cam estimated that 30,000 to be killed here. Mrs. Andrea Mann (the German Ambassador's real boss!), Helen & Wally Boelkins, Daravuth Seng, village children, filmmaker Marc Eberle (Svay Rieng, 18 Jan. 2010). |
On a more consistent basis, I will be writing a column to be published on KI-Media, my personal website www.thearyseng.com and other outlets on the Extraordinary Chambers (ECCC) in my capacity not only as a US-trained lawyer and civil society leader engaging Cambodians on the work of justice, peace and reconciliation in light of the ECCC, but more importantly as a Civil Party in Case 002 against the Senior Khmer Rouge leaders (the heart of the Extraordinary Chambers), the first victim to be recognized as such by and to testify in the ECCC.
There is an important deadline coming up for the Co-Prosecutors, 15 days after the final decision on the Closing Order (hence, end of this month of Jan. 31) to submit their list of witnesses to testify on the substantive facts and laws (crimes) against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders as set out in the Case 002 Closing Order to the Trial Chamber.
It it imperative that many voices of the 2,000+ accepted civil parties be given this role to testify as witnesses, as this is now the only means for us to have a direct voice in the criminal proceeding. This, however, requires that the names of the civil parties and their reasons as related to the crimes in the Closing Order be established and forwarded to the ECCC Trial Chamber for deliberation and acceptance. The strongest case is if the civil party's name is included in the list of witnesses of the Co-Prosecutors, due 12-13 days from now.
But if not in the list of the Co-Prosecutors, the civil party has a second chance if it is included in the list of witnesses to be submitted by the Civil Party Co-Lead Lawyers, Mr. ANG Pich and Ms. Elisabeth SIMONNEAU FORT, the deadline being mid-February 2011, 15 days after the deadline of the Co-Prosecutors.
It is highly questionable if the civil parties' lawyers -- both Khmer and foreign -- are able and capable to handle and represent effectively 2,000+ clients and still make the deadline of mid-February 2011.
First, the UN French Co-Lead Lawyer has yet to arrive in Cambodia and start her position. She is expected to arrive the end of January 2011 which will then give her 15 days to settle into a new home, new country, master the learning curve of general knowledge of Cambodia, then the specific history and rules of the ECCC, then the very specific nature of civil parties representation and details of 2,000+ clients. There is a rumor that she only speaks French and not Khmer or English. I wish her luck!
True, the Co-Lead Lawyers work in cooperation with a coterie of both Khmer and foreign civil party lawyers, approx. 40. The Khmer lawyers are limited to less than 10 persons; the foreign lawyers are either not based in Cambodia tending to their full-time positions in their respective country or if based in Cambodia full-time, it is questionable whether they "get" it for various reasons, e.g. language barriers, lack of commitment/seriousness/experience.
To address the insurmountable problems, it is suggested that the names of the civil parties to be forwarded to the Trial Chamber via the Co-Lead Lawyers be based on a quota system: for example, [ 5 ] names of civil parties from each of the 11 civil party lawyer teams.
This is the most absurd suggestion for obvious reasons, the main ones being:
One, witnesses should be determined based on their ability to testify on a substantive point of fact or law of the Closing Order, not based a random lottery picking to satisfy the fairness/unfairness of lawyers. The interests of the law and of the civil parties (and not the lawyers!) should be paramount.
Two, each team of civil party lawyers has clients ranging from 1 individual to 700+ individuals.
Three, it is a lazy, fatalistic method of handling a challenge without even attempting to tackle the problem.
By way of example, I am here publishing an excerpt of only my personal request and reasons to the Co-Prosecutors to be in their list of witnesses to the Trial Chamber with the hope that other civil parties will follow my lead in proactively engaging and assisting this process with their lawyers.
- Theary C. SENG, Civil Party and representative of Civil Parties of Orphans Class (18 Jan. 2011, Phnom Penh).
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