Oman Observer - Analysis

First trial of genocide
CAMBODIA'S genocide court will decide on Friday whether a charge that could have wide-ranging effects on top Khmer Rouge leaders should be added to the indictment of the regime’s former prison chief. Kaing Guek Eav — better known as Duch — was indicted in August for allegedly overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 men, women and children when he headed Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21.

The 66-year-old faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, making him the first leader of Cambodia’s brutal 1975-1979 communist regime to stand trial at the UN-backed tribunal. Court officials had hoped that the hearing would start in September, but prosecutors appealed against the indictment, saying it failed to go far enough and portray a “full and truthful account” of Duch’s crimes.

The court is now set to rule on the appeal, under which prosecutors demanded that the charge of “commission of crimes through participation in a joint criminal enterprise as a mode of liability” be added to Duch’s indictment. Because of its very nature, the charge is opposed by other Khmer Rouge leaders who fear that a conviction in Duch’s case could leave them automatically liable.

“These are all important issues that need to be addressed for Duch and relate to the cases against the other defendants,” said John Ciorciari, a senior legal adviser for the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities. The controversial “joint criminal enterprise” (JCE) is a legal doctrine that allows a court to hold multiple people responsible for crimes when they act as part of a coordinated process, according to legal officials. “It makes it a bit easier to hold defendants guilty, because they need not kill someone or order killings themselves to be held responsible,” Ciorciari said. — AFP