Feb 4, 2008
K Rouge leader seeks delay in genocide tribunal hearing
PHNOM PENH - KHMER Rouge leader Nuon Chea sought on Monday to delay
his first public hearing before Cambodia's genocide tribunal, saying
that he needed his foreign lawyer to appeal his detention by the
court.
A key member of Nuon Chea's defence team, Dutch attorney Victor Koppe,
has yet to be admitted to Cambodia's Bar Association, a requirement
for foreign lawyers wi****ng to represent tribunal defendants.
'If I have only a Cambodian lawyer, it is not consistent with
international standards. I believe that if these proceedings go ahead,
it is not fair to me,' Nuon Chea told tribunal judges.
'I would like to request that the court adjourn the proceedings to a
later date,' he added, shortly before the judges went behind closed
doors to discuss the request.
Nuon Chea, who was Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot's closest deputy
and the alleged architect of the regime's devastating execution
policies during its 1975-1979 rule, is charged with war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
The court had been scheduled to hear his appeal of his pre-trial
detention, which he argues is based on flimsy evidence. The 81-year-
old was arrested in September.
But a conflict over his foreign lawyer, Mr Koppe, arose last week when
Cambodia's Bar Association refused to admit him.
Bar officials said Mr Koppe signed had court do***ents before they
swore him in, violating the rule that foreign lawyers wi****ng to
represent tribunal defendants must be accepted by the Bar before
conducting court business.
On Monday, Nuon Chea's Cambodian lawyer also asked that the hearing be
postponed.
'I alone ... cannot accept this hearing because this is an
international hearing,' Sun Arun said.
Nuon Chea, dressed in a crisp short-sleeved ****rt, appeared healthy,
standing on his own to answer questions from the judges about his
name, age and the names of other family members.
The appearance of the regime's ideologue, the senior-most of the five
Khmer Rouge cadre to be arrested so far, marks only the second public
hearing since the UN-backed tribunal was convened 18 months ago.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were
executed by the Khmer Rouge, which dismantled modern Cambodian society
in its effort to forge a radical agrarian utopia.
Cities were emptied, their populations exiled onto vast collective
farms, while schools were closed, religion banned and the educated
cl***** targeted for extermination. -- AFP
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