Tribunal Struggles With Civil Party Role
Defense for jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary said this week the participation of civil parties needed better definition. (04 July 20
As the pre-trial detention hearing of jailed Khmer Rougeleader Ieng Sary came to a close this week, participants found themselves atodds over how much victim participation through civil parties was too much. Prior to one session of the hearings, the Pre-Trial Chamberjudges ruled that one individual, Seng Theary, a Cambodian-American lawyerwhose parents died under the Khmer Rouge, would not be allowed to participatedirectly. Pre-trial judges ruled that for the Ieng Sary hearings, civil partyvictims of the regime would only be allowed to express themselves throughlawyers. That ruling has raised questions over how much participationshould be allowed in the future. The UN-Cambodia tribunal was designed with a unique element:the presence of civil parties, who participate alongside prosecutors and thedefense, representing their own cases but also speaking as a voice of thevictims. But following the hearings Thursday, lawyers told reporters there wasa limit. "In some ways, it was really a bad week from theperspective of the civil parties," said lawyer for the civil parties SilkeStudzinsky. "We received this week a ruling by the Pre-Trial Chamber sayingthat civil parties are not allowed to speak personally if they are notrepresented." Under the tribunal's internal rules, civil parties are notobligated to have a lawyer, Studzinsky said. Seng Theary called the ruling "a prevention of the civilparties' rights." Michael Karnavas, co-defense for Ieng Sary, disagreed. "We still have not set up the modality, how far can [civilparties] go, what should they do?" he said Thursday. "Half the timethey are just repeating the arguments that the prosecutors made, rather thansay, 'I concur,' and then adding one or two points." However, Studzinsky said Karnavas was usedto working with courts in a system of common law, unlike the system used toset-up the tribunal. William Smith, co-deputy prosecutor, called civil parties very important for the tribunal. They play a watchdog role, he said, and standup for the interest of all victims. Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the role of the civilparties was important to the courts, but in some cases, testimony such as SengTheary's is not crucial. "Seng Theary's case is not the same," he said."The expression of the victims in person will be more interesting in thetrials."