Officials of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Travel to New York to Verify Funding

Officials of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Travel to New York to Verify Funding

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 665

“Phnom Penh: A delegation of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal will travel to the headquarters of the United Nations in New York in the United States of America late this week again, to verify the funding for the mixed tribunal – according to officials of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

“There was a visit to the UN headquarters after the United Nations and donors agreed in February 2010 to grant US$43 million for the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, where US$10.7 million is for the Cambodian side in 2010. But so far, the money has not been transferred into the account of the Cambodian side.

“The head of the Public Affairs Office of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Mr. Reach Sambath, said with hope that the delegation of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, both from the Cambodian and international sides, that will travel to New York late this week, might get positive results relating to the funding for the salaries. The funds for salaries had been promised to be provided to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, but the money for the Cambodian side has not yet been transferred, while there is no such problem for the international side.

“The Khmer Rouge Tribunal has to spend approximately US$485,000 as salaries for the 294 members of the Cambodian staff. But in April, they received only half of their salaries, as funds for the Cambodian side were not adequate.

“Mr. Reach Sambath added, ‘There are still no salaries for the Cambodian side for May 2010. In April, we could only get half of the normal amounts. There are no salaries for May, but the staff is working as normal, as they had experienced this before.’

“In the meantime, Mr. Reach Sambath added that the judges of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal have not provided the exact date when they will announce the verdict for the Case 001, for the former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Kek Eav, alias Duch.

“Mr. Reach Sambath said, ‘We cannot predict the date when the verdict will be announced for the Case 001, as the judges have not informed us. The date of the announcement of the verdict of the former Tuol Sleng prison chief has been postponed due to problems with the translation of the verdict into three languages (Khmer, English, and French), as this must be written out in detail.

“Anyway, Mr. Reach Sambath said that the verdict will be announced before the co-prosecutors will send Case 002 to the trial chamber, which is planned for September 2010.

“It should be noted that the hearings of Case 01 of the former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Kek Eav, alias Duch, started on 30 March 2009 and finished on 25 November 2009. After the hearing of Duch had been finished, the court had announced that the verdict will be released in the first semester of 2010.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5200, 18.5.201

This article was first published by The Mirror, [3] Vol. 14, No. 665 - Tuesday, 18.5.2010
Have a look at the last editorial - you can access it directly from the main page of The Mirror. [3]

Norbert Klein is the Editor of The Mirror [4] – The Mirror is a daily comprehensive summary and translation of the major Khmer language press - More about The Mirror [5]