A Day on Limitations and Reparations

by Christine Evans, Clinical Fellow, Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law (JD and LLM)
— 29 Jun, 2011

After nearly two days devoted to the preliminary objections of accused Ieng Sary, Day 3 in Trial 002 finally gave the other three accused – Nuon Chea, Ieng Thirith, and Khieu Samphan – the opportunity to voice some of their arguments against their prosecution in the ECCC as the court devoted the majority of the proceedings to the accused’s preliminary objections on the statute of limitations in relation to the 1959 Cambodian Criminal Procedure Code. But, as the day unfolded, it quickly became clear that the defense team for Ieng Sary would again perhaps be the lone voice for the accused against the co-prosecutors and civil parties.

Given the previous day’s exhaustive and exhausting legal arguments, it would not have been surprising if the public had stayed away from the courtroom today. Yet, on the contrary, the public gallery quickly filled to capacity this morning. A much larger group of secondary school students packed the seats than on Monday or Tuesday, perhaps having been bused in to fill the space left by the decreasing number of foreign observers. As the audience filed into the gallery, security guards tasked with controlling the seating arrangements continuously contradicted each other, requiring some observers to move again and again and even causing a few to walk out in frustration. Despite this initial irritation, however, the courtroom remained packed for the entire day.

Read more: ctm_blog_06-29-2011

Cambodia Tribunal Monitor’s Trial Observer posts are written according to the personal observations and opinions of the writer and do not constitute a transcript of ECCC proceedings or the views of Cambodia Tribunal Monitor and/or its partners. Official court transcripts for the ECCC’s hearings may be accessed at the ECCC website.