Cambodia's "informal" Truth Commission in the 1980s. (Courtesy of Documentation Centre of Cambodia)Wednesday, 03 June 2009
Written by Georgia Wilkins and Neth Pheaktra
The Phnom Penh Post
A decision by judges to scrap a hearing on further prosecutions at the war crimes court has raised concerns that a resolution to the row has again been delayed.
A DECISION on the politically charged issue of whether Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal will investigate more suspects could be delayed by judges, prompting calls by civil society groups to consider substitutes such as a truth commission in place of the war crimes court.
Judges cancelled a hearing to announce whether further prosecutions could move forward, set for Friday, said international co-prosecutor Robert Petit, who added that he believed the judges had decided to publish their decision "on paper" rather than orally. He said he did not know when a ruling would be made.
"But in the case of Cambodia [a truth and reconciliation commission] certainly cannot be a substitute for the current cases, nor for the [additional] ones I seek to prosecute," warned Petit, saying that calls for additional mechanisms of justice should be used as a complement to, not substitute for, legal justice.
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