Monday, 4 February 2008

Nuon Chea's appearance at court hearing

Judges and court officers with the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal attend during a hearing Monday, Feb. 4, 2008. A Cambodian court adjourned a hearing Monday over former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea's appeal against his detention by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal tasked with seeking justice in the communist movement's atrocities in late 1970s. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, POOL)


Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right hand man of the Khmer Rouge regime, sits in a dock during his first public appearance at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh February 4, 2008. Cambodia's U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal adjourned a bail hearing on Monday for "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea after his Dutch defense lawyer failed to show up. An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation under Pol Pot's 1975-79 reign.REUTERS/Heng Sinith/Pool (CAMBODIA)
Chum Mey, left, one of the few survivors who was imprisoned at Tuol Sleng prison by the Khmer Rouge looks on prior to a U.N.-back genocide tribunal Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for Nuon Chea. Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right hand man in the Khmer Rouge, was to attend a hearing on his detention.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Cambodian woman Sok Soul, 68, front, and others wait in line to attend a U.N.-back genocide tribunal Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea. Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right hand man, was arrested for crimes against humanity in 2007 and has been in detention ever since.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Cambodian police look on during a U.N.-back genocide tribunal hearing for former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)
A vehicle transports former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea to a hearing Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, at the U.N.-back genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was the first time since being arrested on charges of crimes against humanity that Nuon Chea has faced the tribunal.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Cambodian police and soldiers look on outside during a hearing at the U.N.-back genocide tribunal Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea.(AP Photo/David Longstreath

Noun Chea, left, a former Khmer Rouge leader and right hand man to Pol Pot, takes a seat during a hearing Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, at the U.N.-back genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A Cambodian court adjourned a hearing Monday over former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea's appeal against his detention by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal tasked with seeking justice in the communist movement's atrocities in late 1970s.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith, POOL)

Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right hand man of the Khmer Rouge regime, sits in the dock during his first public appearance at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh February 4, 2008. Noun Chea stood before the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal on Monday in the second public appearance by a senior Pol Pot cadre. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea's (C) first public hearing before Cambodia's genocide tribunal was postponed Monday amid a row over his legal team, court judges said(AFP/Pool/Tang Chhin Sothy)

KRouge's leader's detention hearing postponed

Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea's (C) first public hearing before Cambodia's genocide tribunal was postponed Monday amid a row over his legal team, court judges said(AFP/Pool/Tang Chhin Sothy)

by Suy Se Mon Feb 4

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's genocide tribunal postponed Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea's first public court hearing Monday amid a row over his legal team, raising concerns for further delays to the UN-backed proceedings.

The tribunal was scheduled to hear an appeal against Nuon Chea's pre-trial detention.
But a key member of his defence, Dutch attorney Victor Koppe, has yet to be admitted to Cambodia's Bar Association, a requirement for foreign lawyers wishing to represent tribunal defendants.

"The pre-trial chamber decided to adjourn the hearing to a later date and ordered the lawyers of the charged person to submit a written report about the presence of the international lawyer," the judges said.

Nuon Chea, the senior-most of the five Khmer Rouge cadres to be arrested so far, argued earlier in the day that going ahead without Koppe would violate international standards of justice.

"It is not consistent with international standards. I believe that if these proceedings go ahead, it is not fair to me," the 81-year-old regime ideologue told tribunal judges.

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, was arrested in September and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

No new date has been set for his appeal, the judges said.

"It's regrettable that it's been postponed," said co-prosecutor Robert Petit.

"Any delay in this court is regrettable. Any delay in getting at the truth in this matter and justice for the victims is regrettable," he added.

Had the hearing been held, it would have marked only the second public hearing since the tribunal was convened 18 months ago.

"The delay does not satisfy us," said Cambodian villager Huy Chhum, one of the hundreds of spectators who gathered in the tribunal's main courtroom to watch the hearing.

"So many delays will make villagers lose faith in the court and then it is meaningless," said the 75-year-old whose wife, brother and son perished under the regime.

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 classes targeted for extermination in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.

All of the former Khmer Rouge leaders currently in custody are elderly and ill, and there are fears they could die before being put in the dock.

Cambodia's genocide tribunal was convened in 2006 after nearly a decade of fractious talks between the government and United Nations.

But it has been badly hampered by delays amid infighting among foreign and Cambodian judges as well as attempts by the Cambodian Bar Association to assert its authority over foreign defence lawyers.

The conflict over Koppe arose last week when the Bar refused to admit him after he signed a court motion seeking the dismissal of one of the pre-trial chamber judges, Ney Thol.

In his motion, Koppe accused Ney Thol, who is president of Cambodia's military court, of being "neither independent nor impartial."

Bar officials said Koppe had signed the court documents before they swore him in, violating the rule that foreign lawyers wishing to represent tribunal defendants must be accepted by them before conducting court business.

Koppe said following the adjournment that he felt that there was "a relation between the motion for (Ney Thol's) disqualification and the sudden stopping of the swearing-in ceremony."

Khmer Rouge 'Brother No 2' in court

Nuon Chea, former deputy leader of the Khmer Rouge, is appealing against his detention [AFP]

Born in 1923, Nuon Chea is the most senior surviving Khmer Rouge leader
Served as deputy to Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, and was group's top ideologue for more than 30 years.
Played a key role in carrying out Khmer Rouge plan to relocate millions of Cambodians to vast collective farms, which later became the notorious "killing fields"
Arrested in September 2007, at his home in Pailin near the Thai border
Facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2008
Al Jazeera English

The most senior surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge leader has appeared for the first time before a United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia.

Monday's court appearance by Nuon Chea, the so-called "Brother Number Two" of the Khmer Rouge, was to have heard an appeal against his detention a request for bail.

But a dispute over the 81-year-old's legal team and the accreditation of two Dutch defence lawyers meant the tribunal adjourned the hearing to an unspecified later date.

"Why are we having the hearing today since I have only one Cambodian lawyer," Nuon Chea asked the panel of judges, adding that the situation was "not consistent with international standards".

"If the hearing goes ahead, I don't believe it will be fair to me," he said.

A key member of Nuon Chea's defence, Dutch attorney Victor Koppe, has yet to be admitted to Cambodia's Bar Association, a requirement for foreign lawyers wishing to represent tribunal defendants.

No new date has been set for his appeal, raising fears of yet further delays to the tribunal process more than a quarter of a century after the Khmer Rouge were forced from power.

"It's regrettable that it's been postponed," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told AFP.

"Any delay in this court is regrettable. Any delay in getting at the truth in this matter and justice for the victims is regrettable," he added.

Arrest

The former deputy to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot - who died in 1998 – Nuon Chea was arrested last September and faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial, expected to start later this year.

Nuon Chea is the second Khmer Rouge senior official to appeal his detention, following a similar move by Kang Kek Iew, also known as Duch, who headed the group's notorious Tuol Sleng prison and interrogation centre.

Duch's appeal was rejected by the court, which said he could attempt to flee the country or interfere with witnesses if he was freed.

Speaking before Monday's court appearance, Son Arun, Nuon Chea's lawyer, said his client "feels an absence of freedom in his detention, where all he does is eat and sleep".

However, the panel of Cambodian and international investigating judges has said it sees Nuon Chea's continued detention as necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses or destroying evidence, as well as for his own safety.

The former Khmer Rouge second-in-command is accused of playing a key role in the deaths of some 1.7 million people during the group's 1975-79 rule.

During that period, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to rural areas in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, outlawing schools, religion and currency.

The tribunal, convened in 2006, has charged Nuon Chea with "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts".

The tribunal is expected to hear documentary evidence that Nuon Chea personally ordered the murder of 14,000 people held at the Tuol Sleng prison, a former Phnom Penh high school.

Nuon Chea surrendered to the Cambodian government in 1998 after the final remnants of the Khmer Rouge collapsed in 1998 and he was given a formal pardon.

In an apology of sorts after the surrender he told reporters: "Naturally, we are sorry, not only for the lives of the people, but also for the animals. They all died because we wanted to win the war."

Cambodian government postpones meeting for officials to celebrate Spring Festival

Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008

Government meeting scheduled during the Chinese Spring Festival is postponed to spare time for some officials to join the season celebration, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday.

"The secretariat of our government has to inform the officials about the postponement, because some of them are relatives of Cambodian-Chinese families and they have to join celebration of the Spring Festival," Hun Sen told a school inauguration ceremony in Kampong Speu province.

However, all the Cambodian-Chinese citizens shouldn't drink too much during the festival, he joked and the attendees laughed.

"During this year's Spring Festival, we don't worry about bird flu like the previous years, because our officials have worked well in containing it and educating people about its hazard," he was quoted by national television as saying.

Chinese Spring Festival isn't official holiday in Cambodia, but some government officials take break during the season and students enjoy free time in most towns.

Cambodian-Chinese people account for around 5 percent of the kingdom's total 14 million strong population.

Former Khmer Rouge leader appears before UN genocide tribunal

The Associated Press
February 4, 2008

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea demanded "international standards" of justice in his first appearance before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal Monday, but the hearing was adjourned after his defense lawyer asked for a delay.

Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's former ideologist, has been detained since Sept. 19 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the group's brutal 1975-79 rule, which caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

Nuon Chea's Cambodian lawyer, Son Arun, asked the court to postpone the hearing so a foreign lawyer could join him in appealing for his client to be released on bail, claiming the tribunal's investigating judges did not have sufficient grounds to detain him.

Dressed in a long-sleeved, checkered gray shirt, the 81-year-old Nuon Chea stood up to address the judges. He demanded "international standard" treatment of his case, saying it would be unfair to him if the proceeding went ahead without the full participation of both his Cambodian and foreign lawyers.

He said his Cambodian lawyer alone could not adequately defend his appeal.

"I need to have two lawyers according to the law of this tribunal," Nuon Chea said, appearing firm and composed.

Prak Kimsan, head of the five-judge panel, adjourned the hearing and gave the defense until Wednesday to explain how much time they needed.

The judges took into account Nuon Chea's "basic right" to have Cambodian and foreign lawyers in deciding to postpone the hearing, Prak Kimsan said, ordering security personnel to take the defendant back to his cell.

Robert Petit, a co-prosecutor of the tribunal, said the adjournment was "regrettable," but that it would not have any impact on the investigation or change the fact that "Nuon Chea stays where he is at" — behind bars pending trial.

Nuon Chea's Dutch lawyer, Michiel Pestman, was absent and substituted by his fellow countryman, Victor Koppe.

Koppe attended the hearing but did not have the right to conduct any discussion during the proceedings. Cambodia's bar association last week refused to swear him in because he had breached its rules by acting as a defense lawyer before taking an oath.

Nuon Chea is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders detained by the tribunal, which is expected to hold trial later this year. He is the second former Khmer Rouge leader to appear before the judges.

In a detention order last year, the tribunal charged Nuon Chea with involvement in crimes including "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts."

The tribunal says detention is necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses, destroying evidence and escaping. The judges said Nuon Chea's own safety could also be at risk if he was released.

Nuon Chea has denied any guilt, saying he is not a "cruel" man. He has also called himself "a patriot and not a coward" trying to run away.

Son Arun said Sunday his client was requesting bail because he felt "an absence of freedom in his detention, where all he does is eat and sleep."

In December, the pretrial chamber judges ruled against a similar appeal for release by Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison.

Thousands of the movement's perceived enemies were tortured at the prison — now a genocide museum — before being executed at "killing fields" outside the capital, Phnom Penh.

Duch, who has been charged with crimes against humanity, implicated Nuon Chea in the atrocities.

Victims seek answers

Trial nears for Khmer Rouge leaders, 30 years after reign of terror that still haunts Cambodia

By Annie Linskey Sun reporter
February 4, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The fears and profound losses still grip Chum Mei even now, three decades after the brutal Khmer Rouge regime terrorized him and millions of other Cambodians.
One of only 10 people known to have survived Toul Sleng prison, where 14,000 died, Chum recalls how the Khmer Rouge arrived in this city in April 1975.

Intent on abolishing religion and education, private property and money, the Communist militants ordered everyone to march into the countryside. Chum's infant son died for lack of medical attention on the trek.

Later, the Khmer Rouge would shoot and kill his wife and another son - they were among 1.7 million who died during four years. The fate of his two daughters remains a mystery.

Today, at 79, Chum still lives in Phnom Penh but won't say where exactly, worried that what's left of the Khmer Rouge might yet come looking for him. Such is the perceived power held by the group's surviving leaders, now elderly themselves and finally about to stand trial.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, but five former leaders of the regime are about to face an international tribunal that has been years in the planning by Cambodian officials and the United Nations. The most senior living leader, 82-year-old Nuon Chea, makes his first appearance in court today. Each defendant could be sentenced to life in prison.

Like many of the victims, Chum has tried unsuccessfully to forget the atrocities. It is answers, not revenge, he seeks from the trials.

"I just want the leaders to stand up and tell the truth," he said. "If they stand up and tell the truth, they can go free."

But as Cambodia begins a national dialogue about the Khmer Rouge, the truth is hard to find.
The regime did not simply disappear when it was swept from power by the Vietnamese army in 1979. Pol Pot and his men retreated to the jungle and fought unsuccessfully to regain power over the next 20 years.

Slowly, through defections and amnesty deals, the Cambodian government co-opted remaining Khmer Rouge forces, bringing many into the police and army. The arrangement encouraged an end to the conflict, but gave victims grounds for continued distrust of Cambodian authorities.

Over the years, most of the country chose an uneasy peace over eye-for-an-eye retribution.

Talking about the crimes became taboo, and schools barely deal with the topic. Many Cambodians know only of their family experiences, with little understanding of the breadth of the atrocities or who was responsible.

"There is a lot of confusion, but we need to go through this murky, dark period before we are given clarity," said Theary C. Seng, the director of a human rights organization here and a victim of the Khmer Rouge. "We are in the midst of a conversation. That is part of the process."
Pailin, a small, dusty province near the Thai border that is home to four of the five now-imprisoned Khmer Rouge leaders, is filled with people who know the truth.

The Cambodian government granted the Khmer Rouge administrative control over the town and surrounding land as part of an amnesty deal in 1996, and hundreds of former members still live here.

"These people who live here know a lot, but they will not talk," said Kong Duong, an information minister who was once the voice of Khmer Rouge radio. Most, he says, are afraid that public comments could help prosecutors build their case. Though the court is limited in its jurisdiction to the most senior regime leaders, second- and third-tier leaders say they worry that the court's reach could expand.

Former Khmer Rouge leaders gather for breakfast every morning at the Hans Meas hotel, slurping noodle soup and lingering over iced coffee. They are eager to talk about the secret American bombing campaign in Cambodia in the early 1970s. The daily terror of those bombs caused thousands of rural peasants to support the Khmer Rouge, and faulty bombs from that time still kill and maim Cambodians today.

But, when asked about the years between 1975 and 1979, most quickly leave the table.
Those who do talk about the past are guarded.

Thong Thon was a videographer for the Khmer Rouge, traveling the country making propaganda films. He is now a deputy governor in Ota Vao, a hamlet near Pailin.

At his home, a traditional Khmer house on stilts, he squatted on a bamboo daybed in the shade and painted a rosy picture of Pol Pot's reign.

During a time when hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were starving to death, he insists that the people were well fed. He saw no one who was unhappy, and no forced labor, he says.

He admits that he did not look for the truth.

"If I was assigned to go to the left, I went to the left," he said. "If I refused, I would be punished severely." He was part of the Khmer Rouge's second group of videographers - Pol Pot executed the first group, he says.

"They were foreign-trained, so they were not trusted," he said.

The leaders who are still alive do not deny the deaths, but neither do they accept responsibility, often blaming foreign influences.

Over a plate of steamed rice and roasted beef at one of Pailin's outdoor eateries, Lath Lina, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla, explained his view of history - a perspective shared by many.

"The Khmer Rouge soldiers were uneducated," the 41-year-old Lina said. 'That made it very easy for outside people - the CIA and the KGB - to influence what happened." Later, he leaned close and in a conspiratorial voice said: "The Chinese know a lot."

The words are not supported by facts, but they demonstrate the delicate ground that the Khmer Rouge and their underlings occupy as the trials begin.

Cambodians' expectations of the tribunal vary. Some say they hope for financial reparations. (One man in Mondulkiri asked if the court could return the pair of elephants that the Khmer Rouge took from him.)

Others want the court to reach further and indict others from the regime. And some want foreign leaders who supplied the Khmer Rouge with guns to be held accountable.

According to an unscientific survey commissioned by the Documentation Center of Cambodia in 2002, 73 percent of the respondents said they wanted to learn the facts about the Khmer Rouge.

Chum Mei was working in Phnom Penh as a mechanic when the Khmer Rouge ordered the city to evacuate in 1975. Tears streak his face as he describes the forced march and the death of his infant son, who was suffering from diarrhea.

The regime targeted intellectuals - killing off the educated class that they believed had corrupted society.

Chum is not well educated and ended up back in the capital, recruited by soldiers to repair the sewing machines used to make uniforms.

In 1978, soldiers told him that he would be sent to Vietnam to repair sewing machines there. Instead, they took him to prison.

Toul Sleng was once a high school, and the compound includes four buildings where prisoners, including Chum, were tortured.

During a visit to the former prison, now preserved as a genocide museum, he described the 12 days of torture he endured there, pointing to various rooms.

In one, men administered electric shocks to his temples. He shows scars where a toenail was yanked out by an interrogator.

"The only question they asked was, 'Do you have any relationships with the CIA and KGB?'" he said. Succumbing to pain, Chum finally told the Khmer Rouge the lie they wanted to hear - that he was a spy.

"I put blame on other people," he said. "I didn't mean it. I just wanted the torture to stop."

He managed to slip away from his captors about the time the Vietnamese were liberating Phnom Penh. By then, his two daughters had disappeared - one taken into Pol Pot's army.

He briefly reunited with his wife and son after his escape, but as the family tried to find safety in the chaos of the crumbling regime, they were discovered by a group of roving Khmer Rouge soldiers. Chum heard the shots that killed his wife and son.

The regime was toppled before the Khmer Rouge could kill him.

Others claim to forget the horrors, but they are just trying to survive and move on, says Hisham Mousour, a human rights advocate who has recently organized hundreds of forums for victims around the country.

"If you lose a family member, it is not human to forget," he said. "But if you talk to a victim for an hour, he will start to cry.

"The victims may seem to forget, but they have not forgotten."

Freedom of Speech improved in Cambodia, report

ABC, Radio Australia
04/02/2008

A Cambodian local Human Rights organisation says that the freedom of speech and expressions in the Cambodian media environment was improved in 2007 compared to the previous years.

In its 2007 annual human rights report released last week, Adhoc says the media freedom situations in Cambodia has been improved and Cambodia now ranks 85 as compared to 108 in the previous years.

Raksmey Kampuchea Newsapers says Cambodia now has 22 radio stations and seven TV stations in operation.

Nevertheless, Adhoc says civil society organisations are not given enough air time to use the national radio station to dissiminate information on human rights violations in Cambodia.

Adhoc also says civil organisations promoting and campaigning for the improved human rights situations aren't permitted to use TV's and Radios at all to educate people about human rights understanding.

Meanwhile, a Paris based organisation, Reporters without Border says in 2007 it observed implementation of media freedom policy in Cambodia outperformed other South East Asian nations.

"Killing Fields" court adjourns bail hearing

Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right hand man of the Khmer Rouge regime, sits in the dock during his first public appearance at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh February 4, 2008. Noun Chea stood before the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal on Monday in the second public appearance by a senior Pol Pot cadre. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Monday, February 04, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal adjourned a bail hearing on Monday for "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea after his Dutch lawyer failed to show up.

Making his first court appearance since being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, the white-haired and toothless 82-year-old Nuon Chea, who was Pol Pot's right hand man, spoke only to ask that his request for bail be delayed.

"Why are we having the hearing today since I have only one Cambodian lawyer and it is not consistent with international standards?" he asked the courtroom packed with nearly 500 people and reporters.

"If the hearing goes ahead, I don't believe it will be fair to me," he said.

An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation under Pol Pot's 1975-79 reign of terror as his dream of creating an agrarian peasant utopia descended into the nightmare of the "Killing Fields."

Nuon Chea is accused of playing a central role in the atrocities and has been implicated directly in the mass slaughter of regime opponents by Duch, head of Phnom Penh's S-21, or Tuol Sleng, interrogation and torture centre.

Duch who is also accused of atrocities, is expected to be a key witness at the long-awaited $56 million tribunal.

The court did not set a new date to hear Nuon Chea's request that he be released on bail for lack of evidence. He is unlikely to be freed.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Ed Cropley)

Khmer Rouge second-in-command to request release on bail at ECCC hearing

PAPER CHASE NEWSBURST
Sunday, February 03, 2008

Eric Firkel

[JURIST] Former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea [GenocideWatch profile] will request release on bail when he appears in front of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday for a pre-trial hearing relating to war crimes and crimes against humanity charges [statement, PDF], Nuon Chea's lawyers said Sunday. Nuon Chea, known as Brother Number Two in the Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder], was arrested and charged [JURIST report] in September and has since been held by the ECCC.

His family has expressed concern over his health and urged the tribunal to release him into their custody. Prosecutors have said that Nuon Chea's detention is necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses and destroying evidence. He has disputed [JURIST report] the charges against him.

The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] between 1975 and 1979 during the communist movement led by Pol Pot [BBC profile], who died in 1998 having never been prosecuted for alleged war crimes. The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2005, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials, but to date, no top officials have faced trials. The first trials are expected to begin this year. AP has more.

Eath Sao

By Russell Contreras
Globe Staff / February 3, 2008

Before the war, before the murders and the mass exodus, Eath Sao remembers, there were elections in Cambodia.

The process seemed no different from what goes on in Lowell, she said. People lined up, went to booths, and cast votes for candidates - similar, with one exception: Corrupt candidates tried to buy votes from residents.

"Voting is so different here," said Sao, who became a citizen four months ago and voted for the first time in Lowell's election in November. "There's no bribing."

The 53-year-old Sao is gearing up for Tuesday's primary, her first federal election since registering to vote. The event in this state is part of the nation's Super Tuesday primaries and could all but decide the Democratic and Republican nominees for president.

Sao would not say what party or whom she is supporting. She would say only that she is excited to be voting and proud to be an American citizen.

"I was happy to become a citizen," Sao said as her daughter, Sophy Theam, 31, translated from Khmer. "I was also happy to see so many other immigrants [at the swearing-in ceremony] and Cambodians there, too."

Asked if she also plans to vote in the general election, Sao looked confused. "She doesn't know the difference yet," Theam explained.

Following an explanation of the differences, Sao then confirmed that, yes, she plans to vote in that election, too.

Born in Cambodia, Sao fled with three daughters from the war-torn country in 1984 and settled in Connecticut. At the time, Cambodia was run by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that was responsible for the deaths of about 1 million people through torture, mass murders, and starvation.

Like thousands of refugees, Sao came to the United States to start over, or at least to be safe. The years that followed saw her struggling to learn English and trying to navigate around American culture. She picked up the language, somewhat, and began traveling around the country, a little.

But it wasn't until Cambodia began opening its doors to former refugees that Sao decided to become a citizen. With US citizenship, Sao could go back to visit family in Cambodia and not go through all of the bureaucratic paperwork. She also could obtain a dual-citizenship status now that the old regime is gone.

"As a citizen, it would be easier to travel" to Cambodia, she said. And she could also register to vote.

Sao registered to vote in Lowell after moving there to be close to her daughter.

Lowell, though "very cold," is a city that has grown on her and might be a place where she could live "for a long time." Lowell also has a large Cambodian population that makes Sao feel comfortable, she said.

By some estimates, around 30,000 Cambodians live in Lowell. The city has the second-largest Cambodian population in the United States, behind only Long Beach, Calif.

Registering to vote had always had been a goal, Sao said, but it had not happened because it took so long to do all the paperwork for her citizenship. So, for many years, Sao merely observed US elections without taking part.

Now that she can vote, Sao said she believes that other Cambodians should register.

She acknowledged that she knows "some" things about the presidential candidates and has been following the election. By the time she gets in the booth, Sao said, she will know enough.

Salem Church to ordain Asian pastor

By Carole Johnston

DAKOTA CITY -- "Come and see!" Soriya Roeun heard these three words every Sunday morning from his wife. But he preferred to stay home and watch TV. So Kay Roeun took his three children and went to church without him.

DAKOTA CITY -- "Come and see!" Soriya Roeun heard these three words every Sunday morning from his wife. But he preferred to stay home and watch TV. So Kay Roeun took his three children and went to church without him.

It took 20 years, but the native of Cambodia, joined his wife Kay in the new faith called Christianity in 1997. Then he was the one going out in the community knocking on doors and saying, "Come and see, come and see!"

Up until now the response to his call to come to church has often been met with suspicion and questions. He seemed to be an ordinary man with no authority and no credentials.

That is all changing at 3 p.m. Feb. 9 when Roeun will be ordained as a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The service will be at Salem Lutheran Church at Dakota City where Roeun has been an active participant in the church's Asian ministry.

A former pastor of the rural church, the Rev. Nathan Houfek, who was involved in the Asian ministry, will deliver the message.

At 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, Roeun will be installed during the Asian worship service at the Salem Lutheran Church, one of 10,700 congregations in the ELCA.

That number will be increased by one on that date as a new church called the United Asian Evangelical Lutheran Church will be formed at Roeun's installation.

The church will be housed in the Salem church but will operate separately.

From the time the Asian ministry began in 1997 until now, both communities were considered one church. But church officials found that establishing a new church and giving the new pastor mission developer status would generate more resources from the Lutheran church.

Roeun is ready to take on the responsibility of his own church."I am so happy. My dream has come true.

The yoke is on my neck and I am ready to go. Now they will listen to me and God is behind me."Completing a Lutheran program called TEEM (Theological Education for Emerging Ministry) brought Roeun's dream of sharing God's love to reality.

Through the program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkley, Calif., he completed the same requirements to be ordained as other Lutheran pastors.

"It took me four years, but it took Moses 40," says Roeun of the normally three-year program. "Through TEEM I feel like Jesus is calling fishermen again, calling people with no high school or college degrees to work for him."

"To complete the program was hard for him. He is a quiet man and there is a language barrier. But he has a deep love for the people of Cambodia.

I really questioned it at first, but then I realized he was supposed to do it," says the Rev. Karen Kaye, pastor of Salem Lutheran Church since 1999.

The whole church pitched in to help financially and through volunteer tutors who helped him with the English language and his studies.

The tutors will play a part in his installation service."They prayerfully wrapped arms around him.

They were a team of eight to 10 people supporting him," says Kaye. "This is the first time we have ordained someone into the ministry from our own church."As a pastor, the South Sioux City man has more in mind than worship, teaching and preaching.

The former Buddhist explained that in his home country, people didn't help others outside the family and culture.

He wants to show to others the love he has received from God and the church."I am thankful for Salem and all the support with all my heart.

I don't know how to pay them back. I am asking God to pay them," says Roeun.During the week he will be an outreach worker helping individuals with whatever difficulties they may have.

"I'll be telling people to come, worship and love each other and solve problems," says Roeun, who has been active in the Asian ministry at Salem since his conversion to Christianity.

"He has the gifts to fill the role that a traditional pastor would not. There's a trust level and people relate to him. They feel God's love through Soriya," says Kaye.

Roeun knows he can depend on his wife, Kay, for much help and support to face challenges along the way.

One challenge is to increase attendance in the church of 18 to 20 people. Another is teaching the basics of a new religion, for instance, learning to use the hymnal and basic worship styles.

For the times his new ministry seems overwhelming, Roeun knows he can rely on God and especially on John 3:16, his favorite verse.

"We will keep our focus on God and love one another," he says.

The new church meets on Sunday mornings from 10:15 to 11 for Bible study.

The worship service in Cambodian and Laotian is from 11:30 to 12:30, followed immediately by an English language class. Since they know English, Asian children have Sunday school with the Salem Church. Asian potlucks are held every other month.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Meets with Yang Jiechi

2008/02/02

On February 1, 2008, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Phnom Penh. Both sides hoped to take the 50th anniversary of the China-Cambodia diplomatic relations and "China-Cambodia Year of Friendship" as an opportunity to push bilateral all-round friendly cooperative relations to a higher level.

Hun Sen said that under the careful cultivation of the generations of leaders of the two countries, Cambodia-China friendship and mutual trust have been strengthened in an all-round manner and the bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results with bilateral relations reaching one new level after another. China's rapid development has offered favorable opportunities to this region and China's support and help has played an important role for Cambodia to improve its capability of independent development and safeguard national independence and sovereignty. Hun Sen said as an inheritor and promoter of Cambodia-China friendly relations, he himself and the Cambodian government will remain committed to pushing forward bilateral relations.

Yang made positive comments on the friendly cooperative relations between China and Cambodia, as well as the results of the cooperation in all areas. He said the two countries are friendly neighbors. Over the past half a century since the forging of diplomatic relations, the China-Cambodia friendship created and cultivated by leaders of the two countries has withstood the tests of changeable international situation and has been consolidated and developed continuously. Yang said bilateral relations have entered a new stage for development with increasing political trust, dynamic exchanges in all areas and fruitful cooperation on economy and trade. Both sides have also maintained close communication and coordination on such international and regional issues as China-ASEAN relations, East Asia cooperation, and development of Great Mekong Sub-region.

Yang highly appreciated the Cambodian government's adherence to the one-China policy, firm opposition to "Taiwan independence", condemnation of Taiwan's "referendum on U.N. membership" and support of China's peaceful reunification. Yang said China hopes to take the 50th anniversary of the China-Cambodia diplomatic relations and "China-Cambodia Year of Friendship" as an opportunity and work with Cambodia to push bilateral all-round cooperative partnership to a higher level.

On the same day, Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, held talks with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Both sides during their meeting reached consensus in the following four aspects to further expand bilateral friendly cooperation. First, maintain high-level exchanges and consolidate the political basis of bilateral ties. They vowed to well hold activities to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between both countries and "China-Cambodia Year of Friendship". Second, further tap potential for cooperation, give play to complementary advantages and expand economic and trade cooperation for mutual benefit and a win-win situation. Cambodia supports Chinese businesses to actively participate in hydroelectric power stations, roads and other infrastructure construction in Cambodia. Third, improve exchanges and cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, culture, sports, public health, tourism and protection of cultural relics, and between localities, expand cooperation area and enrich China-Cambodia comprehensive cooperative partnership. Fourth, strengthen coordination and cooperation on such international and regional affairs as the reform of the UN Security Council, as well as ASEAN-China, ASEAN plus China, Japan and ROK and Great Mekong Sub-region cooperation to safeguard common interests of both sides.

With regard to the Taiwan question, the Cambodian side reaffirmed firm adherence to the one-China policy, holding that the separatist activities aimed at "Taiwan independence" pose severe threats to peace and stability of this region and any separatist attempts to split Taiwan from China are doomed to failure. The Cambodian side also expressed sincere sympathy and solicitude for Chinese people in snow stricken areas.

Yang arrived in Phnom Penh on January 31 for a three-day official visit to Cambodia.

Ex-Khmer Rouge leader ready for hearing

Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea looks out from his Pailin, Cambodia, border home in this July 26, 2003 file photo. Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's second in command from 1975 to 1979, is scheduled to appear Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, at a hearing at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh. Chea, along with several other top Khmer Rouge leaders, is in a U.N. detention center in Phnom Penh awaiting trial on crimes against humanity. More than 1.7 million Cambodians were killed, starved or worked to death while the Khmer Rouge was in power. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)

February 3, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea will ask to be released on bail when he makes his first appearance before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on Monday, his lawyer said.

Nuon Chea, a Khmer Rouge ideologist and a top leader of the murderous movement, is scheduled to appear before the tribunal's pre-trial chamber.

The tribunal has detained Nuon Chea since last year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the Khmer Rouge atrocities that led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people when the communist movement held power in Cambodia in 1975-79.

The 81-year-old is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders pending trial, which is expected to start later this year.

Son Arun, Nuon Chea's lawyer, said his client would appeal his detention and ask that he be released on bail because he "feels an absence of freedom in his detention, where all he does is eat and sleep."

"It is not like when he used to live with his family," Son Arun said, adding his client was in normal health and ready to appear before the hearing.

The tribunal investigating judges have charged Nuon Chea with "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts."

The tribunal says the detention was necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses or destroying evidence. They say Nuon Chea's own safety could also be at risk if he was at large.