Thai troops moving into the “white zone (No-man’s land)” in Chub Koki

Wednesday, April 8, 2009Everyday.com.khTranslated from Khmer by Socheata
Following the conclusion of the JBC meeting in Phnom Penh in the evening of 07 April, about 200 Thai black-clad soldiers were sent to enter West Chub Koki, Oddar Meanchey province. Thai soldiers spread their forces and dug trenches about 100 meters from where Cambodian troops are stationed. Local villagers from Chub Koki village reported that Thai soldiers have entered the “white zone (No man’s land)” and they dug trenches there to prepare for fighting. The location where the Thai soldiers have settled is about 150 meters from where the villagers live. The report added that North and West Chub Koki villagers fled their homes in fear of a clash like the one that recently took place in Preah Vihear temple.

Kasit ruffled by the refuge given ex-PM

Bangkok Post
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya says he is uneasy that certain governments have allowed Thaksin Shinawatra to use their countries to attack Thailand.Mr Kasit did not name them, but said yesterday Thai envoys in countries which do not have extradition treaties with Thailand had informed their host governments of the former prime minister's status and of how he had stirred up a political crisis at home.They include countries in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.Among the countries that do not have an extradition treaty with Thailand is the United Arab Emirates. Dubai in the UAE has been used by Thaksin as a base. Thaksin also has a Nicaraguan passport.The government is seeking to extradite the former premier to serve a two-year jail sentence for abuse of authority in the Ratchadaphisek land case.He would be treated the same as any other person who escapes charges and flees to another country, Mr Kasit said. Thaksin has made regular phone-ins from unknown locations to address red-shirt protesters outside Government House.Mr Kasit said authorities were verifying a report that the exiled leader was taking shelter in Cambodia. If this was confirmed, then the relationship between Bangkok and Phnom Penh would be at risk, he said.He was also upset at the long delay by the Council of State in considering the proposed revocation of Thaksin's ordinary passport.The matter was forwarded to the government's legal arm five months ago but the ministry has still not received a reply.The ministry could make a decision right away but needed advice from the Council of State to set a standard to be used for other cases, he said.Thaksin has challenged the government to strip him of his ordinary passport. His diplomatic "red" passport given to him when he was prime minister has been cancelled.Mr Kasit said he planned to raise the matter with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.Tomorrow the Foreign Ministry will hold a briefing with Bangkok-based diplomats to explain the continuing legal proceedings against Thaksin.The planned briefing follows Thaksin's stepped-up attacks against the government, Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda and two other privy councillors, Surayud Chulanont and Pichitr Kullavanijaya.Gen Prem and Gen Surayud have been accused by Thaksin of being involved in engineering the coup plot against him.

Tribunal Trials Not for Revenge: Official

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer Phnom Penh01 April 2009
As the Khmer Rouge tribunal goes through its first trial, for prison chief Duch, more light will be shed on the regime, educating people about the dark period in their history, a tribunal spokesman said Monday.“The trial is not for revenge,” said Reach Sambath, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is facing charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, for his role as the head of Tuol Sleng and Prey Sar prisons and the Choeung Ek “killing fields,” where up to 16,000 Cambodians were executed and dumped into mass graves.Duch’s trial “will explain the real history of Cambodia,” Reach Sambath said. “It will allow the younger generation to understand what happened.”Callers from the audience had many questions about the trial and the history of the Khmer Rouge, including the exact death toll from the regime; researchers put it between 1.7 million and 3 million.“We expect that by the end of the mandate of the [tribunal] we can find out clearly the exact figure of the victims killed in the Khmer Rouge regime,” Reach Sambath said.The tribunal will hold trials for four other senior-most leaders, he said: ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, foreign minister Ieng Thirith.That number could widen, however, if the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal sides with recommendations from international prosecutor Robert Petit. His recommendation that the indictments be widened has been opposed by Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang.“The controversy of more indictments proposed by the international co-prosecutor and rejected by his Cambodian counterpart is under consideration at the Pre-Trial Chamber,” Reach Sambath said.

Cambodian border village in ruins after clashes

Cambodian soldiers examine a burnt market near an ancient Hindu temple where Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged rifle and rocket fire in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh April 4, 2009. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Saturday a border clash with Thailand around a 900-year-old Hindu temple would not escalate into a more serious conflict. REUTERS/Chor SokuntheaApril 5, 2009 AFP
PREAH VIHEAR (Cambodia) - LIFTING out blackened jewellery and bottles of whiskey, Cambodian troops comb through the wreckage of a village destroyed in a bitter battle with neighbouring Thailand.Villagers have fled the area near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple since troops from both sides traded gun and rocket fire on Friday, leaving two Thai soldiers dead and another nine wounded.'Thai soldiers fired many rockets into the market so that it was burned down,' said Cambodian soldier Kim Chantha, 49, as he sat next to the smoldering site at the base of the temple, cradling his AK-47 rifle. 'We rushed to put out the fire when it first started on the thatched roof of a house, but we didn't have time because Thai soldiers kept firing machineguns and a lot of rockets toward the market,' he added.Many troops sifted through the scattered corrugated steel that remains of the gutted market and homes.Hundreds of villagers who lived here were evacuated to a school 20 kilometres away from the site.

Khieu Samphan Requests Release

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh03 April 2009
Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan requested his release from pre-trial detention on Friday, claiming he would not flee his own day in court and would spend his time farming.Khieu Samphan, who is 78 and was arrested in November 2007, is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as nominal head of the regime.Defense attorney Sa Sovan told the Pre-Trial Chamber of the tribunal that Khieu Samphan would not flee if released. Nor would he pressure witnesses or victims, nor “stir up social instability,” he said.“He wants to stay outside detention, to plant fruit trees and vegetables,” Sa Sovan said. “So I have repeatedly asked the Pre-Trial Chamber to release Khieu Samphan on bail and have asked for court measures [to keep him confined to certain areas].”Tribunal prosecutor Yet Chakrya told the court the detention was a “proper measure,” if only to protect Khieu Samphan’s safety.“If we release Khieu Samphan on bail, he will have revenge sought against him by victims,” he said.Khieu Samphan visited Phnom Penh in 1991 for the first time after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge. An angry mob of people surrounded his residence, and he was injured on the head as a result.Tuol Sleng prison survivor Bu Meng, now 69, said Khieu Samphan should be held in detention, along with four other leaders, including the chief of that prison, Duch, who saw the first days of a substantive trial on Monday.“Khieu Samphan cannot deny what he did in the Khmer Rouge regime, because he was the leader. I believe that if the court allows Khieu Samphan outside detention, it is very difficult [because] of revenge sought by victims.”At least 10 members of Khieu Samphan’s family were present for Friday’s hearing.“I’ve come here to know what the court accuses him of, and what the court is doing to find justice for him,” Khieu Samphan’s wife, So Socheath, told reporters after the hearing. “I want the court to show the evidence [linking him to] the killings. I want justice for the killings under the Khmer Rouge regime. Who gave the order for the killings? [Khieu Samphan] did not commit a crime, and I want the court to release him on bail.”

First part of historic Duch trial ends

Thursday Apr 02, 2009Maggie TaitNZPA
PHNOM PENH - The historic public trial of the man who ran Pol Pot's torture prison is to take a short break, after a dramatic opening three days in which Kaing Guek Eav apologised to his victims and the Cambodian people.The trial before a United Nations-backed tribunal is taking place before five judges, one of them New Zealand Justice Silvia Cartwright.Following Tuesday's dramatic apology by Eav, better known by his revolutionary name Duch, yesterday was anti-climatic. The auditorium, packed for two days, was less than half full.The trial will resume on Monday when the judges will say whether they agree to a defence request to release Duch into a safe house.Duch's French lawyer, Francois Roux, asked he be moved from the tribunal's specially built jail to a "safe house," as his rights had been violated by his 10-year detention without trial.Cambodian law prohibits "provisional detention" longer than three years, Roux said.After his 1999 arrest, Duch spent seven years in a Cambodian military prison, then nearly three years in the tribunal's jail.Another argument for moving him was that he shared his quarters with four other Khmer Rouge defendants, and he will be implicating some of them during his trial.Over the coming months witnesses will testify about what went on at Tuol Sleng or S21 torture centre, where an estimated 17,000 people were detained, tortured and executed.New Zealand Olympic rower Rob Hamill's brother Kerry was tortured at S21 before he was executed, after the yacht he and two others were sailing strayed into Cambodian waters in 1978.Mr Hamill has been accepted as a civil party, which means his lawyer can ask questions of witness and Duch on his behalf.Duch on Tuesday admitted the crimes that happened under his watch but qualified that by saying he was only acting under the orders of his superiors.Mr Hamill told NZPA on Tuesday that it was good Duch had admitted his guilt, but that had to be tempered by the ambition and willingness to do wrong he had shown by his acts."Did he ever consider the people he murdered that they, like him, had mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, or children?"He wanted to ask Duch what happened to his brother's remains.The trial is the first of senior leaders in the Khmer Rouge regime under which 1.7 million Cambodians died to be heard before the UN-backed dual international Cambodian Court.Duch faces charges including crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of the Cambodian penal code including premeditated murder.Maggie Tait travelled to Cambodia with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Robert Petit casts doubt on Duch’s remorse

31 March 2009By A.L.G.Cambodge Soir HebdoTranslated from French by Tola EkClick here to read the article in French
The prosecutor reminded that the former S-21 official remained with the communist party of Kampuchea for another “13 years,” following the fall of the KR regime in January 1979.Following the initial declaration given by the prosecutor in the morning of Tuesday 31 March, Robert Petit, the Canadian co-prosecutor, questioned the sincerity of Duch’s remorse, while acknowledging that he collaborated with the court.“Was his feeling of remorse authentic?” Robert Petit asked in French. “It is indeed a good question to ask. Indeed, Duch asked for forgiveness on several occasions, directly during scene re-enactments or through his lawyers. But, did he apologized to the victims whom he ordered and supervised their torture?”Reminding the audience that Duch remained a member of the communist party of Kampuchea for another “13 years” following the fall of the regime, and that the KR had enough confidence in him to send him to teach Khmer in China for two more years, Robert Petit ended his speech by paying tribute to the victims: “Behind the statistics and the slogans, there are hidden names, families, hope. Maybe, the accused will finally be troubled by these sufferings, which in the past, left him unmoved.”Prior to this, Robert Petit once again asked that “as in all mass crime cases,” the charge of “joint criminal enterprise” be retained against Duch.At the end of the initial declaration by the prosecution, the session ended at about noon time. It was restarted at 1:30 PM to allow the defense to provide its reply.