The Court Report

APRIL 2016 / Issue 96 The Court Report The Extraordinary Chambers In this issue in the Courts of Cambodia Moving forward through justice News & notes 2-3 Judicial updates 4-8 Courtroom of the Extraodinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) Judge calls for submission of amicus curiae briefs The international Co-Investigating Judge of Judge Bohlander wrote in the call for sub- the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of mission that it is thus appropriate for him to Cambodia (ECCC), Judge Michael Bohlander, put the Parties on notice of the legal question is inviting scholars, academic organizations he is currently considering. “It seems that an and any other organization operating in the argument could be made that the previous field of international criminal law to submit discussion about the interpretation of the con- written amicus curiae briefs on the issue on cept may from the very beginning have over- whether, under customary international law looked a rather banal logical policy aspect, Decisions/orders 8 applicable between 1975 and 1979, an attack which is that the entire distinction between by a state or organization against members of combatants and civilians might only make Hearing in Case 002/02 9-12 its own armed forces may amount to an attack sense if we are talking about combatants and directed against a civilian population for the civilians of the enemy population. Leaving the purpose of Article 5 of the ECCC Law (crimes contentious issue about the nexus...... Outreach activities 12 against humanity). Continued to page 2 Contact information 13 2 News & notes Judge calls for submission of amicus curiae briefs Continued from page 1 to an armed conflict under the ECCC's jurisdic- tion aside, on which I have positioned myself elsewhere, one could further argue that it would a) seem beyond dispute that a regime which in peace times tried to cleanse its own armed forces of, for example, all soldiers hold- ing a particular ethnicity or faith, would under international customary law be engaging in a variety of crimes against humanity, because the victims' combatant quality merely because they are soldiers would be entirely irrelevant in this context, and that b) there is no reason to think otherwise if such a campaign hap- pened in the course of or otherwise connected to an armed conflict." According to the same document, Judge Bohlander said that a clearer understanding of the Issue may be relevant to the allegations in Expert Witness Testimony: Case 003 - and to a lesser extent in Case 004 - and will benefit international criminal law as a Prof. Alexander Hinton whole. "I therefore invite the parties in Case Professor Alexander Laban Hinton ap- cluding Director of the Centre for the Study 003 and Case 004 to submit any observation peared before the Trial Chamber as an expert of Genocide and Human Rights (CGHR), and they may have on the Issue. I also consider it witness from the 14th to the 17th of March Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs. appropriate to invite, pursuant to Internal Rule 2016. During the three and a half days of tes- From 2011 to 2013, Mr Hinton was appointed 33, any qualified person or organisation to timony, the expert covered different aspects President of the International Association of submit amicus curiae briefs on the Issue." of his academic work on Genocide focusing Genocide Scholars. In 2013 the University of "The parties to Cases 003 and 004, as well greatly on his methodology and findings, spe- Rutgers launched the UNESCO Chair in Geno- as the amici curiae shall at this time address cifically with regards to his research on the cide Prevention with Alexander Hinton as the the Issue in the abstract as a question of law, case of the Khmer Rouge. Chair of the committee. He holds further aca- and not with particular reference to the allega- demic and advisory roles such as Academic Mr Hinton first arrived to Cambodia as tions of Cases 003 or Case 004. Case-specific Advisor to the Documentation Center of Cam- an anthropology graduate student in 1992, submissions by the parties may be made in the bodia. Since his first visit to Cambodia in the when the UNTAC period began. He returned final submissions once I have taken a view on early ‘90s, Mr Hinton has returned to visit the two years later to carry out field research the law and notified the Parties accordingly.” country regularly, and has continued publish- from 1994 to 1995. At the time this academic ing his research on the Khmer Rouge. The amicus curiae briefs should be pre- was interested in studying the conceptions pared in conformity with formats described in of psychology in Cambodian culture. How- At the end of his testimony before the Practice Direction on Filing of Documents be- ever, his research frequently led to discuss Trial Chamber, Mr Hinton was confronted fore the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts the Khmer Rouge and their motivation to kill. by Nuon Chea, “Brother Number Two”. The of Cambodia (http://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/ Over ten years later, he included this research co-accused disagreed with the academic on document/legal/practice-direction-filing-doc- in his book “Why Did they Kill? Cambodia in several stands. Most significantly, the former uments-eccc-revision-8) . The briefs should the Shadow of Genocide”, published in 2005. cadre assertion discuted Professor Hinton’s not be exceeding 3,000 words (including foot- The academic argues his writing process be- confirmation that the Democratic Kampuchea notes) and shall be emailed by 19 May 2016 gan with his Anthropology PhD dissertation regime used hateful speech that incited geno- to the Greffier of the Office of the Co-Investi- at Emory University in 1996, which was later cide. A couple of weeks later, in an interview gating Judges at the following address: Chhay. revised and transformed to become his final publish by national news source VOA Khmer, [email protected] book, awarded the Stirling Prize in 2008. After the expert witness stated, “I think the discus- this book Mr Hinton specialised in the field of sion that we had is hopefully one that can be More details about the issue and the invi- Genocide studies and researched other cases opened up more broadly in Cambodia […] So I tation to submit briefs are available at: http:// of mass violence. was pleased that even if he didn’t agree with www.eccc.gov.kh/en/document/court/call- me he had raised the issue.” submissions-parties-cases-003-and-004-and- He currently holds several academic po- call-amicus-curiae-briefs sitions at Rutgers University in Newark, in- Read his testimonies on page 11 News & notes 3 Cambodia-UN welcomed the progress by the ECCC in all cases Deputy Prime Minister His Excellency Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers and Chairman of the Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials and Ambas- sador David Scheffer, UN. Secretary-General’s Special Expert on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, met on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, and held productive discus- sions on current developments in the work of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Both parties welcomed the progress by the ECCC in all cases. They looked forward to the forthcom- ing delivery of the appeal judgment in Case 002/01, which will mark another significant milestone in the work of the ECCC. They also noted good progress in the ongoing trial proceedings in Case 002/02, including a sub- stantive number of completed testimonies by witnesses as well as civil parties. The parties DPM Sok An had meeting with U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Expert on UNAKRT, Ambassador David Scheffer noted the progress made by the Co-Investi- on 26 April 2016 at Friendship Palace, Council Ministers. gating Judges in the remaining cases. however, the continuing need to attract ad- The parties also welcomed the establish- The parties expressed their appreciation ditional funding for the national and interna- ment by the Royal Government of Cambodia of the for the financial support already delivered tional components of the ECCC's budget for Legal Documentation Centre relating to the work of this year to the ECCC by major donors and the 2016 as well as 2017. They discussed joint ini- the ECCC and the continued preparation and instal- stability that such contributions provide for tiatives by which to seek such funding among lation of ICT infrastructure in order to ensure a fully the operations of the court. They recognized, prospective and existing donor nations. functional facility. Im Chaem's international Co-Lawyer passed away The Defence Support Section (DSS) of the John R.W.D. Jones QC, the International Co- Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cam- Lawyer for IM Chaem, who sadly passed away bodia (ECCC) is deeply saddened to share the last week. John was a well loved and much tragic news of the death of John R.W.D. Jones, respected lawyer who excelled across several QC who served as foreign Co-Lawyer for Ms. legal fields and was known as a humble, gen- IM Chaem. erous, gregarious and witty man. As a mark of that love and respect many gathered to hear John was an inspiring and brilliant lawyer some words from a number of his former and an amazing person to work with. He had colleagues and friends, candles and incense experience practising at all the major interna- were lit and flowers were laid at the Lokta tional criminal courts and tribunals and had Dambang Dek (Lord of the Iron Staff) stupa published and lectured extensively.

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