Key Documents Presentations: Day 2

Today, February 24 2016, the Civil Party lawyers and the Co-Prosecution and Civil Party lawyers concluded their key document presentations regarding the treatment of the Vietnamese and the treatment of former Lon Nol officials respectively. The Khieu Samphan Defense Team then presented the documents they deemed most important to proof that there had not been any policy and intent to exterminate the Vietnamese and Cham minorities.

 

Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers

At the beginning of the session, the Trial Chamber Greffier announced that International Nuon Chea Defense Counsel

Trial Chamber President Nil Nonn asked for reasons for the request by the Co-Prosecution for an extension of time. Senior Assistant Prosecutor Dale Lysak clarified that this referred to former Lon Nol officials. He said that there were some documents the Co-Prosecution he wanted to present, but this could be done another time or through a filing and lay with the discretion of the Chamber. Khieu Samphan Defense Counsel Anta Guissé said that she did not have objections, but requested additional time if the request by the International Co-Prosecutor was granted. The other parties did not have any observations. The request was granted.

The floor was then granted to Lead Co-Lawyer Pich Ang to conclude the key document presentation from yesterday. He referred to several Civil Party applications, interviews and supplementary information sheets to show the mistreatment and killing of Vietnamese civilians, as well as their transfer to Vietnam, during which a Civil Party had claimed that many people died.[1] Mr. Ang’s colleague Marie Guiraud then said that the content of all Civil Party Applications and information was crosschecked before this hearing.

 

International Co-Prosecution

The floor was then given to the Co-Prosecution. Mr. Lysak presented the documents the Co-Prosecutors had determined as being most relevant for the treatment of Lon Nol soldiers. The documents that he directed the Chamber’s attention at were classified in three groups. First, those documents that related to evidence relevant to April to May 1975 and alleged executions of Lon Nol officials that took place in this time period. Mr. Lysak argued that the documents showed that these executions followed orders of Khmer Rouge leaders. These documents included contemporaneous diary entries of journalists, telegrams, OCIJ statements, academic work, news reports and interviews.[2] He submitted that they showed that Ta Mok had ordered the gathering of Lon Nol soldiers and their executions. The second group of documents related to the arrests and killings of Lon Nol officials in Sector 13 and the Southwest Zone that occurred before and after a meeting by Sao Vann.[3]

At this point, the President interjected and adjourned the hearing for a break.

After the break, the floor was granted to the Co-Prosecutors. Mr. Lysak continued his presentation relating to the second group of documents.[4] He then turned to the third group, which consisted of Documentary Evidence that he said confirmed that arrests and executions continued after May or June 1975. These included scholarly books, Written Records of Interviews and prisoners lists.[5]

 

Khieu Samphan Defense Team

The floor was then granted to the Khieu Samphan Defense Team. Ms. Guissé said that it was difficult for the Khieu Samphan team to choose these documents, since they had not been certain about the possible testimony of witnesses 2-TCE-92, 2-TCE-97 and 2-TCE-99. She cited documents that served to show that neither the Cham nor the Vietnamese minority were subject to an attack and that there was no policy to kill these groups. In contrast, she argued that the CPK intended to present Cham people as being part of the revolution and to uphold negotiation processes with Vietnam, even when Vietnam attacked Cambodian fisher boats. The documents included radio broadcasts, testimonies given in front of this Chamber or in Case 002/01, and news articles. Moreover, Ms. Guissé pointed to border conflicts between Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam and reiterated that the CPK had talked about the “Vietnamese State” and the risk of an invasion, but not about Vietnamese civilians. Furthermore, Ms. Guissé said that defections, rebellions and uprisings challenged the Khmer Rouge regime. At the end of the session, she put forward a document that criticized Ben Kiernan’s account of the mistreatment of minorities under Democratic Kampuchea.[6]

The President then adjourned the hearing for a break.

After the break, the floor was given back to Ms. Guissé. She continued her presentation by stressing the importance of land boundary and maritime border conflicts and claimed that the Khmer Rouge maintained the wish to negotiate with their neighbor.[7]

 

After Ms. Guissé finished her presentation, the President adjourned the hearing. It will resume on Friday, February 26 2016, at 9 am. There will be no hearings tomorrow to give parties time to prepare their responses to the key documents.

 

 

 

[1] E3/5587, at 00416802-03 (KH), 00426466-68 (EN), 00455405 (FR); E3/5588, Civil Party Application of Troeng Yan Yong; E3/5626 (also E3/4574); E3/6088, Civil Party Application of Chhay Eat,  at 00503242 (KH), 01137798 (EN), no French translation available; E3/6049, Civil Party Application of Yoeng Yang, at 00500852-53 (KH), 01137773 (EN), no French translation available; E3/6054, Civil Party Application of Sum Soth, at  00501122-23 (KH), 01137782 (EN), 01155136 (FR); E3/6053, Civil Party Application of Phen San, at 00501100-01 (KH), 01137778-79 (EN), no French translation available; E3/5937a, Supplementary Information of Civil Party Kong Vun, at 00585239 (KH), 01137902-03 (EN), no French translation available.

[2] E3/51, Jon Swain, 17 April 1975, at S0003728 (EN), S00644709-10 (KH), 00597835 (FR); E236/1/4/3.1, Sydney Schanberg diary, at 00963956-57 (KH), 00898278 (EN), 00955419 (FR); E3/2694 Telegram of 18 April 1975; E3/2700, Telegram of 20 April 1975; E319/23.3.42, at answers 29-37; E3/2419, Henri Locard and Moeung Sonn Prisoners of the Khmer Rouge, at 00293762-63 (EN), no translations available; E3/3393, Los Angeles Times Article, 04 May 1975; E3/3364, Washington Post Article, 06 May 1975; E3/3370, Washington Post, 12 May 1975; E3/89, Interview of Ieng Sary conducted by Stephen Heder, at 00062461 (KH), 00417606 (EN), 00332688 (FR); E3/387, Interview of Ouk Bunchhoeun conducted by Stephen Heder, at 00379486 (KH), 00350205 (EN), 00441418 (FR); E3/390, Interview of Mat Ly conducted by Stephen Heder, at 00436867-68 (EN), 00392094-95 (KH), 00479807-08 (FR).

[3] E3/2120, (E3/2121) Meng Try-Ea The Chain of Terror: The Khmer Rouge Southwest Zone Security System, at 00416383 (EN), 01098794 (KH), no French translation; E3/4627, Written Record of Interview of Iep Duch, at 00223476-77 (EN), 00163493 (KH), 00651259-60 (FR).

[4] E319/19.3.125, at answers 10-17; E319/13.3.20, at answers 15-25, and 37-44; E3/9598, at answers 14-15; E3/2120 (E3/2121) Meng Try-Ea The Chain of Terror: The Khmer Rouge Southwest Zone Security System, at 00416382 (EN), 01098793 (KH), no French translation; E3/4659; E3/5637, at 00890576-79 (EN), 00891880-82 (FR), 00052150-53 (KH).

[5] E3/832, List identifying 17 traitors that the party had examined and decided to smash, 04 June 1975; E3/1539; E3/3973, at 00006642-46 (KH), 00837571-81 (EN), 00875960-76 (FR); E3/2048; D313/1.2.16; Henri Locard report “Ram Kak district in the Grip of the Khmer Rouge”, at 00739044 (KH), 00217700-701 (EN), 00743759-60 (FR).

[6] E3/272, radio broadcast, at 00167520 (EN), E1/192.1, excerpt of examination of Philip Short in case 002/1, at 09:37; E3/9 Pol Pot: the history of a nightmare, at 00639721-25 (FR) 00396406-09 (EN) and 00639840 (FR), 00396506 (EN); 00639722 (FR); E3/7283, Cambodia Daily: Henri Locard, 15 April 2014, at 00993774 (EN), 00114245 (KH), no French translation; E1/383.1 11.10; E3/4589, at 00283070 (FR), 003223746 (KH) 00323699 (EN); E3/9, at 00639951-52 (FR), 00396587-88 (EN) and 00639840 (FR), 00396506 (EN); E3/7265, Article of the Washington Post, 10 August 1978,  at 00166105 (EN), 01081608-10 (KH); E3/7310, at S00013294 (EN), S01137152 (KH), no French translation available; E3/7315, series of articles and broadcasts, 25 October 1978, at S01137156 (KH), S00013209-10 (EN); E3/3995, Stephen Heder, at 00802832 (FR), 00844612-13 (KH), 00773767 (EN); E3/7280, at 00995818 (FR);

[7] E3/221 Record of Meeting A Study of the Reaction of the Vietnamese, at 00386180 (FR), 00000815-16 (KH), 00182697-98 (EN); E3/794, minutes of meeting , at 00611618 (FR), 00000786 (KH), 00182676 (EN); E3/744 Revolutionary Flag of February 1978, at 00538944 (FR), 0006440 (KH), 00464063 (EN); E3/7314, Article of Libération June 1976, S0005779 (FR); E3/7316 Bangkok Post, April 1976; E3/7290, Yale University, at 01172718 (FR), 01152710 (KH), 00993809 (EN).