ECCC, Case 001, Issue 7

Case 001

ECCC

Cambodia

English

During this week’s proceedings, the Defense’s theory appeared to become clearer. As expert witnesses Mr. Nayan Chanda (on Monday and half of Tuesday) and Dr. Craig Etcheson (during the remainder of the week) were questioned, both the National and International Defense Counsel seemed to be determined to establish the notion that Duch was entirely subject to the will of his superiors, and had no choice but to follow the “party line”. Furthermore, both Defense counsels also attempted to insinuate that Duch was but a “scapegoat”, by espousing that more responsible people could have been brought to trial, or even testifying as witnesses. 

As per last week, the issue of expert witness credibility and the need to establish her or his expertise during proceedings was raised again, without any definitive ruling from the Chamber. There seems to be a need to have a practice directive issued with regards to this matter, bearing in mind that the Court still has a number of expert witnesses to hear and the issue had been consuming an extensive amount of the Chamber’s time.