ECCC, Case 002/01, Issue 56

Case 002/01

ECCC

Cambodia

English

This week, the Trial Chamber finished hearing the testimony of Chhaom Se, and heard the complete testimony of Witness François Ponchaud. Chhaom Se resumed his testimony following a temporary adjournment on 11 January 2013 due to the ill health of the coAccused and other interceding matters.2 François Ponchaud, a French priest and author of “Cambodia: Year Zero” commenced his testimony on Tuesday. Despite his fluency in Khmer, his decision to speak in Cambodia’s national language caused ongoing interpretation issues throughout the course of his testimony, and considerable time was expended in order to clarify his responses.

A number of objections were raised throughout the week in relation to hearsay and questions falling outside the scope of Case 002/01. The Defense repeatedly objected to Witness Ponchaud giving opinion evidence and speculation, which appeared to be largely tolerated by the Chamber, with the exception of one instance where the Defense objection was sustained. On Thursday, the Chamber also heard arguments in relation to Khieu Samphan’s application for provisional release on bail, prior to a discussion on the admissibility of new evidence that the OCP and the Khieu Samphan Defense had intended to rely on during the hearing.