6 September, 2012
(RTTNews) - The United Nations-backed genocide tribunal in Cambodia trying cases of mass murder and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime on Thursday ordered that more than 1,700 confidential documents, including victims' 'confessions' and witness statements, be made public.
The decision comes after the Supreme Court Chamber
of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) reviewed
more than 12,000 confidential and strictly confidential documents in the
case file of Case 0001, in which the former head of a notorious
detention camp, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, was the defendant.
The
ECCC is a hybrid court set up after a 2003 agreement between the UN and
the Cambodian Government with the aim of trying those accused of the
worst crimes during the Khmer Rouge regime. As many as two million
people are thought to have died during the rule of the Khmer Rouge
between 1975 and 1979, which was then followed by a protracted period of
civil war in the South-East Asian country.
In a news release,
the tribunal stated that the reclassification process had been conducted
in accordance with previously specified guidelines and in broad
consultation with ECCC offices, such as the Trial Chamber, the Office of
the Co-Prosecutors and the Victims Support Section, amongst others.
"The
Supreme Court Chamber sought to strike a reasonable balance between the
demand for transparency deriving from the fundamental principles that
govern the procedure before the ECCC and the needs for confidentiality
dictated by the protection of privacy for victims and witnesses and the
preservation of the integrity of on-going proceedings," according to the
news release.
"In this regard, it has considered that wide
dissemination of material concerning the Court's proceedings would
support the ECCC's mandate to contribute to national reconciliation and
provide documentary support to the progressive quest for historical
truth," it added. The Chamber expressed hope that "wide access to
documentation in the case file for the general public, researchers and
journalists will promote a genuine public discussion of Cambodia's
tragic past based on firm evidence."
In addition to victims' 'confessions' and witness statements, the
1,749 released documents include victims' biographies, transcripts of
hearings and letters. The remaining documents will be reviewed for
reclassification at the end of the proceeding with they concurrently
pertain, the tribunal said.
In February this year, the ECCC's
appeals chamber sentenced Kaing Guek Eav to life in prison, upholding an
earlier conviction and extending the existing jail term of 35 years.
Kaing headed the S-21 security prison in the capital, Phnom Penh, where
numerous Cambodians were unlawfully detained, subjected to inhumane
conditions and forced labor, tortured and executed in the late 1970s.
by RTT Staff Writer
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