Trial Chamber Denies Khieu Samphan’s Latest Request for Postponement

by Laura Fearn
— 21 Oct, 2014

Today, President Nil Nonn released the Trial Chamber’s October 16, 2014, unfavourable decision on the Khieu Samphan defence team’s October 3, 2014, application for postponement of Trial 002/02.

Khieu Samphan’s lawyers had requested that the proceedings be delayed until after the appeal briefs are filed in Case 002/01 against the convictions of Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea. They had proposed a March 22, 2015, deadline for filing the briefs. As the Co-Prosecutors objected to in their October 3, 2014, reply to the application, this would amount “to a delay in the trial proceedings of more than five months (17 October 2014 to 22 March 2015)”.

The court rejected the current request on basically the same grounds as it had on the defence team’s three other applications to reconsider the scheduling order.

Quoting from prior interpretations of the Trial Chamber Internal Rules which did not allow reconsideration of Trial Chamber decisions, the memorandum states that the Trial Chamber will “therefore only consider a request anew where a ‘fresh application justified by new evidence or new circumstances is made.’ ” The court found that the defence again had failed “to demonstrate the existence of new circumstances or evidence which would justify” a postponement.

The Trial Chamber refused to revisit the defence argument that it has insufficient resources to prepare the appeal brief at the same time it is participating in Trial 002/02 stating that the Scheduling Order already had taken this time management issue into consideration.

Similarly, the Chamber denied that Khieu Samphan’s two hospitalizations constituted a material change in circumstances as they were of short duration and the accused has recovered fully since.

In the matter of the Khieu Samphan defence team motion of October 16, 2014, the Trial Chamber moved to allay the defence’s concerns that the Interpretation and Translation Unit was “unable to address the accumulated backlog of its translation requests.”

The court directed the Office of the Administration (under whose purview the ITU falls), “to address the issues raised in the KHIEU Sampan Defence request as soon as possible” and, mindful of avoiding delays in Trial 002/02, “to ensure that ITU is provided with the necessary resources to enable the Chamber and Parties to fulfill their duties.”

One can only speculate on the effect that the Trial Chamber’s refusal to grant the oft-requested postponement had on the subsequent events of October 17, 2014, when the defence teams of both Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan walked out of the first day of Trial 002/02 and the accused themselves declared they would not cooperate in the proceedings until their demands were met.

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.