CIVIL RESISTANCE
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CIVIC EDUCATION
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WHO still unable to identify illness that killed 61 children in Cambodia Friday, 6 July 2012, The Independent (UK) Cambodia Outbreak Is Unlikely to Be Influenza
The Wall Street Journal, 5 July 2012
*** What’s Killing Cambodia’s Children? July 4, 2012, By MARK MCDONALD International Herald Tribune (Paris, France)
*** Cambodian children die from mystery disease 4 July 2012, Reuters
*** Unexplained Disease Kills Over 60 Children in Cambodia July 4, 2012, By PATRICK BARTA The Wall Street Journal
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Eccc the Clown
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"Free the 15! Stop the Violence!"
Children of detained women protesting land evictions prevented from marching to Appeals Court to see their mothers (Photos: CEN, 27 June 2012)
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PBS - Need to Know Imperfect Justice in Cambodia Broadcasted 8 June 2012
. . . 2nd Meeting of the Human Rights Resource Center on Business and Human Rights in ASEAN Report Bangkok, 6-8 June 2012
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By Brad Adams The New York Times, 31 May 2012 “I not only weaken the opposition, I’m going to make them dead ... and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage.” [...] Often overlooked in discussions about the world’s most notorious autocrats, on Friday Hun Sen will join the “10,000 Club,” a group of strongmen who through politically motivated violence, control of the security forces, massive corruption and the tacit support of foreign powers have been able to remain in power for 10,000 days. . . .
ECCC Debacle Should Provide Pause for Reform of International Justice (Complete letter submitted, unedited) 7 June 2012 I write to register several comments to the Post’s article Investigation Flawed: 004 Suspect’s Lawyers. First, Ta An could not have a better international lawyer representing him in Richard Rogers, who not only has deep experience in international law but in Cambodia. I remember his commendable work as the legal consultant for the Center for Social Development, when I was its director beginning in 2006, before he went on to become deputy and then chief of the ECCC Defense Support Section. Ta An will get his fair trial rights protected—whatever that means at the ECCC—if Richard can help it—or, for that matter, in the high-powered game of international criminal law as we know it now. And it is to this latter point that I want to focus my next comment: fair trial rights in the politically high-stake, professionally high-powered, institutionally high-priced, individually high-minded and self-righteous international sphere of mass crimes and genocide are illusory at best, nonsensical at worst. The international criminal law system is broken and in need of reform, starting with how we employ fair trial rights. National Criminal Justice System The set of fair trial rights as we know them, employed in the international sphere of mass crimes and genocide, are imported wholesale from the national court system. The first problem of this wholesale import of fair trial rights is one of rationale. In a domestic criminal justice system, immense measures for the protection of the individual—“fair trial rights”—are marshaled to counter-balance the massive resources of the State.
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Sacravatoon, May 2012
Another Judge Jumps Ship JUNK JUSTICE Who will be next? Khmer Democrat in KI-Media, 17 May 2012
. . . AFP, 5 May 2012 A judge at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal on Friday accused several colleagues of interfering with controversial investigations into new cases, in a parting blow before leaving the country. Swiss judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who rocked the UN-backed war crimes court in March when he became the second judge to quit in protest at alleged political meddling, said in his last statement he had worked "in a highly hostile environment". . . . Farewell Laurent Kasper-Ansermet; Farewell Decency, Honor, Character, Justice Commentary by Theary C. Seng The Phnom Penh Post, Friday, 4 May 2012
Today, Cambodia will suffer a great loss in the departure of International Reserve Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet. It is a loss with significant implications, and not only for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and for cases 003 and 004. The departure of Kasper-Ansermet has far-reaching consequences for Cambodia's larger, post-genocide society and our struggle to embed justice and combat impunity. We are in shock over the cold-blooded murder of environmentalist Chut Wutty, but we should not be surprised.
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PRESS RELEASE BY THE INTERNATIONAL RESERVE CO-INVESTIGATING JUDGE You Bunleng accused of serious violation, professional misconduct and breach 28 March 2012
The International Reserve Co-Investigating Judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, disputes all of the confused allegations contained in the press release dated 26 March 2012 by the National Co-Investigating Judge, You Bunleng. . . The obstruction that he has encouraged and openly admitted to in the conduct of investigations in cases 003 and 004 amounts to professional misconduct and is a breach of the Internal Rules, the Law and the Agreement. An equally serious matter is Judge You Bunleng publicly naming one of the investigators in charge of several ongoing investigations. . . . . .
The straight path to TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE in Cambodia? The Tortuous Path to Justice in Cambodia March 27, 2012, International Herald Tribune (Paris, France) Nate Thayer, a journalist and author with deep knowledge of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, also has a deep disdain for the tribunal, which he told me Tuesday was “an insidious, dangerous mockery of the rule of law that sets an unacceptable new model for legitimizing a 21st-century version of a Stalinist show trial.’’ Mr. Thayer might well have invented the modern journalistic practice of embedding: He traveled with the guerrilla resistance after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, living rough, fording streams, camping in jungles. In 1997 he scored a major scoop: an interview at a remote Khmer Rouge camp with the fugitive Pol Pot. His interview for the Far Eastern Economic Review was the first with the former “Brother No. 1” in nearly 20 years. At the time, Pol Pot had already been denounced by his followers. He was in failing health, and died the following April. . . . Damning evidence of You Bunlengsabotaging Case 003/004to the Parties on the Egregious Dysfunctions
Within the ECCC Impeding the Proper Conduct of Investigations in Cases 003/4
21 March 2012 . . .
The Honorable Kasper-Ansermet, you are truly a rare saving grace of the whole of the "international community" in Cambodia and bear correctly the title "honorable". - Theary (Michigan, 20 March 2012)
Press Release from the International Reserve Co-Investigating Judge 19 March 2012
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Judges remain at loggerheads;Theary Seng out as civil partyThe Phnom Penh Post, 1 March 2012 What part of "ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!" is not understandable?! I am amused that this Eccc (pronounced "icky") the Clown continues to consider me a civil party when I at every turn since November 2011 have publicly, loudly, categorically denounced it as "FARCE!" "SHAM!" "JOKE!" See the November 2011 Press Conference when I withdrew all legal associations from Eccc the Clown
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Rifts at KRT Over Case 003, 004 The Cambodia Daily, 1 March 2012 (Excerpts) They also said the investigating judges had erred by refusing Ms. Seng and other civil party applicants access to the case file, and ordered that she be allowed to re-submit her application. "The efforts of the CIJ Kasper-Ansermet and of the UN judges in the Pre-Trial Chamber in pushing for cases 003 and 004 vis-a-vis my and Rob Hamill's applications are honorable, but they are not enough to redeem the integrity and legitimacy of the ECCC," Ms. Seng said in an email yesterday. . . .
"The ECCC - A Failure of Credibility"International Bar AssociationFebruary 2012
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Life term for CambodiaKhmer Rouge jailer DuchBBC News, Guy De Launey, 3 Feb. 2012 There are dissenting voices. Theary Seng, who leads the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims, saw the life sentence as an attempt to make Duch the sole scapegoat for all the atrocities committed by Pol Pot's government.
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Watch my film interview with Al Jazeera re the final decision on Duch, 3 Feb. 2012
. . . KR tribunal suffers crisis of funding DPA, 10 Feb. 2012
Prominent court critic and Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng said, "We are experiencing the rolling momentum of the weight of these crises to the tipping point of sham."
She said the tribunal's legitimacy was now "beyond restoring".
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Reversal: Cambodia genocide court to pursue more Khmer Rouge Kasper-Ansermet's bid to reopen the investigation was the "fresh breath of U.N. air we have been demanding," Theary Seng, a Khmer Rouge survivor and an advocate for victims, wrote to msnbc.com. She noted his "unexpected assertiveness regarding his pursuit of the political(ly) controversial cases 003/4," which she alleged were "expressly blocked by the government."
"The U.N. and the Cambodian government are heading for a showdown because of the unexpected flexing of muscles by the U.N. vis-a-vis the Cambodian government," she added. . . . My Commentary in The Phnom Penh Post, 9 Feb. 2012
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A Life Sentence for 14,000 Deaths International Herald Tribune, 6 February 2012 One Cambodian human rights activist, Theary Seng, told Al Jazeera that she thought the life sentence for Duch was part of a government ruse to protect the remaining members of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy: “They want him to be the scapegoat,’’ she said, “for the whole Khmer Rouge regime.’’
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Khmer Rouge jailer's life term bad example9 News (Australia), 7 Feb. 2012
"The devil is in the detail," said human rights activist Theary Seng of the judicial split.
"It feeds into my fear that this was really a political decision to make Duch the scapegoat for the whole regime," said the campaigner, who lost her parents under the regime.
"We're only starting to chip away at the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era. Duch should not be made the face of the Khmer Rouge regime," she said.
. . . . . MSNBC.com Former Khmer Rouge Jailer's Sentence Increased, Miranda Leitsinger, 3 Feb. 2012
... Theary Seng, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime and is an advocates for victims, said though she agreed with Duch's life sentence since it matched the gravity of his crimes, she was disturbed by the chamber's decision to overturn the lower court's acknowledgment of his confession, cooperation and illegal pre-trial detention. "The legal implication carries dangerous consequences for the Cambodian national court system in the embedding of fair trial rights and due process, especially on the violation of pre-trial detention rights which is an abhorrent and pervasive problem in the national court system that we want (to) change in our society," she wrote in an email to msnbc.com. She also noted that the life term, while appeasing the emotional sentiments of victims in handing out the most extreme sentence, had aligned with the Cambodian government's efforts to make Duch, "a small fish" in the regime, the "sole scapegoat."
"I am extremely disturbed because today's final closure on one case involves a man who was not a senior KR leader; Duch was the director (of) one prison, among 200 KR prisons. Where I was detained as a child (at age) seven, DCCam (the Documentation Center of Cambodia) estimated 30,000 were believed to have been killed there, including my mom," she said. "But this and similar other prisons will never get a hearing."
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Exploitation and Disempowerment of Victims at the KRT
Issues of Reparations
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COMMENTARY
Phnom Penh, 6 February 2012
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Background to Duch (Case 001)'s Final Decision
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The Khmer Rouge Tribunal in the Dock In Search of Truth and Justice
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COMMENTARY
Phnom Penh, 1 February 2012
“Truth is a pre-condition of justice. Justice is necessary for shalom (which is peace that is more than the absence of conflict but entails the presence of justice. The KRT is full of deceit. Deceit can never turn into justice, no matter how sophisticated the spinning; but to the contrary, it can turn even more dangerous when with UN insignia.”
Case File: Victims v KRT Mini-trial 1: Victims v RGC Mini-trial 2: Victims v UN
In KI-Media
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Time is Ripe for UN to Disengage Theary C. Seng Letter to the Editor, The Phnom Penh Post, 27 Jan. 2012
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Article 28, Agreement between UN and Cambodia Should the Royal Government of Cambodia change the structure or organization of the Extraordinary Chambers or otherwise cause them to function in a manner that does not conform with the terms of the present Agreement, the United Nations reserves the right to cease to provide assistance, financial or otherwise, pursuant to the present Agreement.
The Case against the ECCC
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Open Letter to Reporters and Commentators "Civil Party" vs. "Witness" By Theary C. Seng, Founding President Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia Phnom Penh, 13 January 2012 In KI-Media In Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia
. . .Back Home in Cambodia With Food as ComfortThe New York Times / The International Herald Tribune Seth Mydans,12 Jan. 2012 "Among others who have returned and stayed are Ou Virak and Theary Seng, prominent advocates of a U.S. brand of human rights and civil society, which at this point fits a little awkwardly with Cambodia’s strong-arm form of government."
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My commentary on "January 7 and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal" Opinion Page of The Phnom Penh Post, 11 Jan. 2012.
"Another UN Failure"
Bethany Mandel, 7 Dec. 2011
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If Commie regime censors KI-Media... More images by Jenny Holligan... Click here if the Commie regime censors KI-Media... Here, if the commie regime censors KI-Media... Another set of photos here also... . . . Looking for Entrepreneurs to Develop Poetic Justice Products for Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia.
Dart Game Set includes:
* 54-page educational booklet (click here for complete booklet) * 5 colorful darts * dartboard with image of war criminal Pol Pot already mounted * 5 additional war criminal images ** Each Dart Game set sells for US$7.00. Please contact Ms. Sivnin at 017.993.118.
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de Volkskrant: You feel personally offended, don't you? Theary: How can I not?! The honor of my father and mother is at stake. My dignity is at stake. I can speak as a lawyer on a professional level, but this is a deeply personal issue for me. I am both within and without... I am highly offended when the UN is effectively telling me, telling the other victims that all we, the poor Cambodians, deserve are the crumbs of justice... The UN is embedding all the dark mentalities we want to change in this society - the mentality of low expectations, the mentality of fear, the mentality of inferiority, the mentality of impunity, the mentality of cynicism... And yes, I agree with the opening statement of Nuon Chea's lawyer--the indictment of this ECCC--minus all the references to Nuon Chea, the one that was never made but sent out as a press release... I believe that guilt is not zero-sum; that is to say, Kissinger is guilty and his guilt does not absolve the guilt of Nuon Chea; he's still directly, personally responsible...
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Poetic Justice and Civil Party Withdrawal in the News Nov. 2011 Ex-leader: Khmer Rouge atrocities are 'fairy tale' AP Newswire, 23 Nov. 2011 "I'm not surprised that Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary continue to deny their crimes as the charges against them of genocide, war crimes are very serious," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian lawyer and human rights activist who lost family members under their regime. "Even if I am not surprised, I am however disgusted by their lack of remorse for the suffering they caused. They are delusional in their denial in light of the weight of evidence against them - the mounds of skulls and bones, the horrific testimonies from every survivor of cruelty, the magnitude and scope of evil unleashed by them across the whole of Cambodia."
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"Khmer Rouge trial is failing Cambodian victims of Pol Pot's regime" Human Rights Watch Brad Adams' editorial The Guardian, 26 Nov. 2011
. . . "Justice Denied" Douglas Gillison, Foreign Policy Magazine, 23 Nov. 2011 . . . Deputy President of Victims Association, a Civil Party of the Orphans Class, Mr. CHEY Theara, Withdraws Civil Party Status, Denounces ECCC as Political Farce _______________________ PRESS RELEASE _______________________
Full statement in both Khmer and English in KI-Media. Here, if ISP censors in Cambodia.
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Khmer Rouge Trial Missing a Marquee Defendant Wall Street Journal, 21 Nov. 2011 “The release of Ieng Thirith is only one reflection of how incredibly late these trials are coming into place,” said Theary Seng, founder of the Cambodian Center for Justice and Reconciliation and herself, too, a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime, having lost her parents and spent five months in prison. She has withdrawn from the tribunal process, and instead put her energy into organizing public games of darts featuring the faces of the Khmer Rouge leaders along Phnom Penh’s riverfront – a “way of release” following victims’ frustrations with the trial process, mixed with “dark humor,” she said.
But the trial - a joint enterprise between the UN and Cambodia - has been heavily criticised. Theary Seng, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, said putting three people on trial for the deaths of 1.7 million simply wasn't enough. (BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011)
Khmer Rouge Trial: Cambodia Awaits Answers BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011
. . . AFP, 21 Nov. 2011 Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng told AFP she was "frustrated beyond words" that only Khieu Samphan looked likely to shed light on what happened. "The people want to know who is behind the Khmer Rouge, we want to see and understand the larger picture and we're not going to get that," she said.
From Tragedy to Sham in Cambodia Asia Times Online, 19 Nov. 2011 In KI-Media Others have gone further, arguing that the time might be ripe for the UN to pull the plug on the controversy-plagued court altogether. Last week, Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime and a prominent advocate for victims' rights, withdrew her status as a civil party to the court, describing the proceedings as a "complete sham". She said the UN should threaten to withdraw after setting some clear conditions for its continued participation. By pressing ahead, Seng said, the world body runs the risk of rubber-stamping a flawed process and further embedding cynicism in the Cambodian population. "I understand the unwieldiness of any large bureaucracy, but at the end of the day it comes down to personalities, and there have been extremely weak personalities," she said. "In this regard, the UN is complicit."
In the End, Loss of Faith in Tribunal: Former Complainant Hello VOA Special with Theary Seng, 16 Nov. 2011 Khmer Rouge Victim Quits Tribunal Saying UN-backed Court is a Sham DPA, 15 Nov. 2011
Prominent Victims' Advocate Quits Khmer Rouge Tribunal VOA International/English, 15 Nov. 2011 KRT Critic Offers 'Poetic Justice' The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Nov. 2011 Theary Seng Denounces Tribunal; Introduces Dartboard Scheme The Cambodia Daily, 16 Nov. 2011
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Click here to read the full press release...
More information at "ECCC Civil Party" More information at Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia Theary Seng Criticizes KRT as "Political Farce" The Phnom Penh Post, 10 Nov. 2011
Radio Free Asia (both AM and PM broadcasts on 10 Nov. 2011)
Cambodian-American Lawyer Withdraws her Civil Party Status Voice of America Khmer Service, 10 Nov. 2011
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