ECCC Rejects Three Khmer Rouge Leaders’ Requests

Phnom Penh, Cambodia (01 February 2011)

Nuon Chea (left), Khieu Samphan (center) and Ieng Thirith (right)

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has conducted a public hearing on case 002, which were the appeals of the former Khmer
Rouge leaders: Khieu Samphan, Ieng Thirith, and Nuon Chea, demanding their release from custody.

Nel Noun, Head of Presiding Judge in the ECCC, said during the public hearing on January 31 that three out of the four Khmer Rouge leaders have been arrested since 2007. They have appealed to be discharged after more than three years of prison detention.

Khieu Samphan’s lawyer, Sor Sovann, urged the ECCC to conform the laws by releasing his client because the detention period as determined by the criminal court was over.

“I request the court to discharge me after I have been spending three years and four months in jail,” Khieu Samphan, said at the hearing.

The lawyers of the three defendants told the court that the validity of their detention ended on 15 January 2011. If there is no more trial, they should be discharged.

Following their lawyers’ address to the judges for the release of their clients, Khieu Samphan said, “I will not explain anything, but the only request is to implement the laws.”

There have been concerns over the age of frail defendants, who have currently reached the age of 75 to 85.

Ieng Thirith refused to join the hearing, and left the trial 30 minutes after it had begun at 9:30 a.m. Minutes later, Nuon Chea also was absent due to health problems, claiming to have high blood pressure. He expressed concerns that it was difficult for him to sit in the courtroom.

Andrew Cayley, an international judge of ECCC, responded to Nuon Chea’s lawyer that the request from Nuon Chea is invalid because the decision of the pre-trail chamber cannot be changed. Also, the ongoing detention of Nuon Chea does not affect the right of the defendant, in accordance with international laws.

Chea Leang, a national judge of ECCC, replied to the lawyers of the three defendants that the decision of prolonging the detention of the three Khmer Rouge leaders will have some degree of validity in four months, beginning 13 January 2011. It was added that his verdict complies with standard legal procedures.

She raised the example of international courts that even if defendants are imprisoned with wrong legal procedures, an appropriate solution is, however, not to release them.

At the end of the trial, the national and international judges of ECCC gave a final verdict by declining the requests of Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, and Ieng Thirith, who have appealed for the release from the prison detention.

During the brutal Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979), Khieu Samphan was the head of state. Nuon Chea was the president of the national assembly, and Ieng Thirith was the Minister of Social Affairs.

  

(Vol. 5, Issue 6, SEAW)